LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A local woman raised questions Tuesday after realizing Lake County had overcharged her for property taxes for more than 20 years.
Anita Godlove said she lost thousands of dollars due to the extra charges, and when the county refused to return most of it, she called Action 9.
Todd Ulrich uncovered a state law that makes you pay for the
government's mistakes.
Something didn't add up when Godlove checked her property tax bill.
Godlove bought vacant property outside Eustis so she could build a home someday.
She never did, but the county had assessed her property as if there was a home there.
“I feel I’ve been cheated.
Absolutely,” she said.
She realized something was amiss when her tax bill inexplicably decreased.
Action 9 checked the property deed as notarized in 1994, and it clearly shows Godlove bought vacant land.
The appraiser's office, though, told her an aerial survey added a neighbor's mobile home to her lot by mistake.
It turned out that the
Lake County property appraiser had been overcharging her since 1997.
“I wanted to know how they could charge me for something that wasn't there," Godlove said. "There's nothing on your bill to tell you there's a house.”
Godlove overpaid taxes by nearly $8,000 and discovered she would never get most of that money back.
She didn't think the government should be able to keep the funds, especially since she wasn't the one that made a mistake.
“I didn’t do anything wrong since I bought a vacant piece of property," Godlove said.
Lake County said its hands were tied by a Florida Revenue Department statute that protects government mistakes.
Even when homeowners are the victims, they can only recover three years of overpaid taxes.
Real estate attorney Karen Wonsetler said the regulation makes it impossible for homeowners to recover all they lost.
“Once the tax rolls are certified on an annual basis, the state does not like to reopen, even for a mistake,” Wonsetler said.
The county repaid Godlove $1,400 of the $8,000 she overpaid.
Under the same law, Godlove pointed out that if she mistakenly underpaid her bill, the state could recover 10 years of taxes with full penalties.
“If I made a mistake, they would be coming after me,” Godlove said.
Cox Media Group
