LAWTON – Comanche County will have to repay Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. more than $500,000 because the county’s tax processing system incorrectly assessed a penalty against the company.
The Board of Comanche County Commissioners authorized the county on Monday to correct the mistake on Goodyear’s 2020 taxes and refund Goodyear $553,573.18. Part of the money will come out of the county’s contingency fund, and the rest will come from the treasurer’s resale account.
The resale account contains the interest that the county has collected for taxes.
Comanche County-based businesses must submit to the county a list of their assets, known as a 901, each year, said County Assessor Grant Edwards. If the list is not submitted by March 16, state law requires the county to assess a 10% penalty against the company.
If the list does not arrive by April 16, the penalty goes up to 20%.
“This 901 came in on March the 13th, which means it was on time,” said County Assessor Grant Edwards. “But it was not worked in our office until about April the 20th, and our system automatically applied a 20 percent penalty, and nobody noticed it.”
Edwards said he thought that Deputy County Assessor Robbie Traughber later discovered the mistake.
Traughber said the assessor’s office will take steps to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
“We’re going to contact our software person and tell him to anytime a penalty is flagged, a box will pop up and say, ‘Do you really want to flag this?’ rather than just letting it flow through,” he said. “So, we’re going to try to put a fail-safe in where this doesn’t happen again.”