JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — It was a simple mistake that could have cost a Jefferson County homeowner thousands of dollars.
Brian Lewis tells FOX31 that when he opened his property valuation notice, only one thing came to his mind.
“I said, ‘What moron put this together?’” he said.
Lewis says the valuation put his home at approximately $500,000 more than it was worth, which could have required him to pay at least $3,000 more in property taxes. He suspected the determination was made by pulling registered comparable values of more expensive homes in another zip code, so he started the appeals process, but ran into complications after his first filing.
“They basically told me they can’t do anything until I appeal it again,” Lewis said.
FOX31 showed the information to Jefferson County Assessor Scot Kersgaard, who immediately investigated the case and found a clerical error made by the staff.
“Somebody should’ve seen an increase of that size and said, ‘wait a minute, wait a minute, let’s look at this again,’ and that didn’t happen and I apologize for that,” said Kersgaard.
Lewis says he is relieved to know his appeal will be completed.
“It’s my money, my wife’s money, our family’s money and this wasn’t right,” he said.
Kersgaard tells FOX31 his team will continue to investigate how the mistake occurred and ways to prevent similar issues in the future. Kersgaard offered to personally answer Lewis’s questions and pick up his appeal form himself.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
