Audit planned in overtaxing case

TROY — Lincoln County Commissioner Ron Downey of Troy has called for a full itemized audit of the Troy Area Dispatch District after the revelation that taxpayers paid $1 million too much during the past 15 years.

Downey said he plans to call a meeting to review just how the emergency-call hub managed to receive $986,000 more in taxes than voters approved.

“The meeting will be held shortly after the first of the year,” Downey said. “I am confident we need to issue an audit. We owe it to the people.”

In 12 of the past 15 years, the dispatch system received money from higher property-tax mill rates than the voter-approved maximum.

In the current fiscal year alone, the dispatch district received $320,460 more than it should have. Voters elected to provide 20 mills per year when the dispatch system became a 24-hour service in 2000.

Calculating the amount of money each taxpayer overpaid during the last 15 years is difficult because of the wide variety and value of taxable properties. The district sent 4,195 tax bills in the 2013-14 fiscal year.

“It’s a lot of money,” Downey said. “It really disturbs me that this happened. Dispatch has a board and it seems they knew what their mill limit was or should have known. I don’t see any malice or anything illegal, but we got to get together and get this fixed.”

Troy Dispatch Board Chairman Gene Rogers refused comment.

Repayment of overpaid taxes is a challenge since properties change hands and people move. While a desire to reimburse taxpayers is widely shared, no one seems sure how to go about it.

“It could be a mess,” Lincoln County Treasurer Nancy Trotter Higgins said.

“I’ve never been around something like this,” Lincoln County Clerk Tammy Lauer said. “But what Gene Rogers is proposing is not enough.”

Rogers has proposed that Troy Dispatch accept only 10 mills next fiscal year and go back to accepting 20 after that.

Twenty mills would be worth $173,880. According to the dispatch center’s current budget, $180,000 goes toward wages.

“By putting dispatch in Libby, people would get the same service and save a lot of money,” Downey said.

Troy Police Chief Bob McLeod hopes the dispatch center stays around.

“Just last week we had people running to dispatch after their apartment burned down,” McLeod said. “Where else can you go in Troy in the middle of the night? I hope the mistakes are corrected and they are able to continue business.”

Johnson is a reporter for the Western News in Libby.