The Uintah County Commission approved the state tax commission’s order to refund Centrally Assessed Taxes to Anadarko during Monday’s Commission meeting. Last year, Uintah County collected Centrally Assessed Taxes from Anadarko based on the state assessed amount. Anadarko appealed the amount and the state ruled that Uintah County would have to refund a total amount of just over $2.8 million dollars. Uintah County and Anadarko were able to reach a settlement agreement that the amount can be paid back over 7 years at zero percent interest which Uintah County approved in a second motion. The amount will be split between multiple county entities with the Uintah School District taking the biggest hit at a total repay amount of just over $1.24 million dollars. The remaining pay back amounts are approximately $101 thousand dollars from the CUP, $135 thousand dollars from County Assessing and Collecting, $59 thousand dollars from Mosquito Abatement District, $423 thousand dollars from the Multi-County Assessing Rate, $2,700 dollars from the Water Conservancy District, and $727 thousand dollars from Uintah County. The settlement means each entity can choose to spread payback of those amounts over 7 years with 1/7th to be paid prior to December 31st each year. State code also allows the county to pay back the amount using a judgement levy but the county opted for the settlement payback over 7 years in order to absorb the amount into each year’s budget. Uintah County Clerk/Auditor Mike Wilkins stated that Uintah County alone has lost over a billion dollars in Centrally Assessed Taxes due to downturn in the oil and gas industry.
