Accounting Error Leads To Budget Shortfall For Rogers County Fire District

Rogers County leaders say they still don't know how the mistake was made, or who made it. But they do know if it's not fixed and they don't get that money back, the Northwest Fire District would be in danger of closing its doors.

The Northwest Rogers County Fire Protection District serves thousands of people, so county leaders were concerned when they found out more than 8,000 taxpayers did not give the department enough money, thanks to a mistake on their property tax statements.

"The decimal point was missed by three spots. It just was overlooked, something a few eyes had looked at and just missed it," explained Rogers County Commissioner Ron Burrows.

According to the County Treasurer, the original levy sheet lists the millage rate for the Northwest Fire District as .00211 mills. Instead, that's supposed to say 2.11 mills.

That means under the current rate, the Northwest Fire District will only collect $282 when it should be getting $282,000.

That's a huge difference for a rural fire department like this one.

The fire chief says he was initially worried the district would have to shut down, but county officials, like commissioner Burrows, assure him it will be a quick and easy fix.

"There isn't any reason to worry, we're talking one entity,” said Burrows. “There was 30,000 plus statements that went out."

Burrows says each of those affected taxpayers will likely have to pay $10 to $15 to make up the difference.

In the meantime, he says the county is working to come up with a system to prevent this from happening again.

The Rogers County Excise Board will meet Monday to clear up the mistake. Once that's done, county commissioners say it will take only a matter of weeks before the fire district gets its allotted money.