Knox Co. R-I Schools Shorted Nearly $70,000 Over 3 Years

Knox Co. R-I Schools Shorted Nearly $70,000 Over 3 Years

By Echo Menges

The Knox County Clerk, Marlene Spory, has released the totals of the amounts of money from the Knox County Railroad/Utility Tax Fund, which were incorrectly allocated to the Adair County R-II School District (Brashear) and the LaPlata R-II School District over three years, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
According to Spory, some of the money overpaid to both the Adair and LaPlata R-II Districts in 2008 from the 2007 tax year was found in the 2007 state audit and paid back to the Knox County R-I School District in 2010 by withholding money from that year’s allocations and by direct repayment from both districts.
Now that the 2010 withholdings have been re-figured into the equation the Knox County Clerk is ready to release the totals of how much went where and how much will have to be paid back.
According to Spory, the largest amount was overpaid to the Adair County R-II School District (Brashear) in the amount of $94,384.99 over three years between two funds, named Average School Tax and Private Car Tax. In 2010 over $17,000 was withheld from the Adair County R-II School District and over $11,000 was paid back directly, based on the 2007 tax year state audit findings. The Adair County R-II School District now owes Knox County $60,487.48.
$2,358.26 was withheld from the LaPlata R-II School District in 2010 for the 2008 overpayment and they paid back $1,702.74 directly, which leaves the LaPlata R-II School District owing Knox County $8,744.23.
In total the Knox County R-I School District is owed $69,231.71.
The Knox County Clerk, Spory, sent letters on Tuesday, September 6, 2011, to both districts asking them to come up with a plan on when they’re going to pay Knox County back for the overpayments. Once the Adair and LaPlata R-II School Districts respond Spory will present those plans to the Knox County R-I School District for confirmation.