Local business owner tells commissioners she paid double truck taxes for years; county pledges review

At the public-comment portion of the meeting, Kate Hoffman of (address given in transcript) told commissioners she had discovered duplicate taxation on the same VIN for heavy trucks and estimated the overpayment occurred for roughly 11 years. "We paid double taxes," Hoffman said, describing a 1990 dump truck she said the business paid twice on because county and state registration systems did not communicate.

Hoffman said she worked with staff in the appraiser's and treasurer's offices and filed a protest that reduced an initially high assessed value; she told the commission she was told state statute limits recoupment to three years. "The statute says we can only recoup 3 years of this double tax payment," she told commissioners.

County staff acknowledged the systems do not directly exchange the relevant commercial registration data and set a follow-up meeting between the treasurer's office, Leah (staff) and the appraiser's office (Lisa) to investigate the reported double taxation and identify other affected businesses. A county representative said: "We're setting up a meeting between the treasurer's office, Leah, and the appraiser's office, Lisa, and I to work through this and see what we can do."

Hoffman also said she would contact the county's state representative and senator to seek a longer-term remedy. Commissioners encouraged Hoffman to bring the issue to the Jan. 8 legislative meeting so she can present her concerns to legislators visiting the county.

No formal remedy was adopted during the meeting; staff undertook to convene the follow-up meeting and to evaluate options, and Hoffman was advised that recoupment under state law is limited.