Agenda - 09-05-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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22 1 Frank Clifton expressed appreciation, on behalf of the County employees, to the Board 2 for these actions. 3 Chair Jacobs said he hoped the same would be done for the health insurance. 4 Commissioner Gordon asked if the county attorney wanted to modify how this should be 5 stated. 6 John Roberts said since the Board codified ordinances last year, general ordinances 7 should be referred to by article, chapter and title, rather than by a title. He said the attorney's 8 office would work to fix these abstracts to avoid confusion in the future. 9 Commissioner Gordon noted that there is no section 28, and she expressed concern 10 that there is not a glitch. 11 John Roberts said this was a typo in the abstract, and this is an amendment to article 4, 12 chapter 28, personnel. 13 A motion was made by Commissioner porosin, seconded by Commissioner McKee with 14 changes to approve amendments to Article IV-Employee Benefits, Article 4, Chapter 28 of the 15 Orange County Personnel Ordinance which states that the County will provide a contribution to 16 an authorized 457 or 401(k) supplemental retirement plan as the Board of County 17 Commissioners provided in the annual budget, with an additional County match of up to $1,200 18 for supplemental retirement benefits for eligible employees. 19 20 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 21 22 a. Refund Requests for Inaccurate Square Footaqe Calculation 23 The Board considered five taxpayers' refund requests due to inaccurate square footage. 24 Commissioner Rich asked to be recused from this item. 25 A motion was made by Commissioner porosin, seconded by Commissioner Price 26 recuse Commissioner Rich from discussion and voting on this item. 27 28 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 29 30 Dwane Brinson said there are 5 requests for refunds due to inaccurate square footage. 31 He said these requests are not typical, and under no circumstances does the tax administrator 32 have the authority to approve or release a refund. This must come from the Board. He said 33 these requests have resulted from a variety of issues, such as recent house purchases and use 34 of technology resources. He referenced a school of government advisor, who feels that these 35 refund requests do not qualify because they fail to meet any of the three requirements 36 (1.Clerical error; 2. Illegal tax; or 3. Tax levied for illegal purpose). This opinion is shared by 37 another advisor. He said that the department understands the taxpayers' dilemma, but there is 38 no legal opinion to support approval. For this reason, the Board must decide on the denial or 39 approval of the refund request. He noted that most requests are situations such as an 40 appraiser taxing a finished bonus room or basement that was actually unfinished. He noted that 41 these taxes have now been corrected moving forward, but the taxpayers are requesting refund 42 for bills paid in the past. 43 John Roberts said there are only three legitimate reasons that a county can refund, and 44 this comes closest to clerical error. He cited previous cases that have limited a clerical error to 45 something that is readily apparent on a document, such as a typographical error or 46 transposition of numbers. He said that the statutes also provide that if a refund is issued 47 contrary to the law, each Commissioner who votes in favor could be held personally liable by 48 any resident of the county who decides to sue over that issue. He agrees that this is not a fair 49 situation, but he feels that the Board is legally limited. He said that a refund can be issued and 50 if the Board is sued, a judge can examine it.