BY JANET BERNOSKY, Eastern Shore Post
Accomack County needs to reimburse Norfolk Southern railroad for a glitch that erroneously resulted in the railroad paying personal property taxes on 48 trucks and sport-utility vehicles that were never kept in the county.
Norfolk Southern also paid taxes on the vehicles as “rolling stock,” which exempts them from being taxed as personal property, said Mike Mason, county administrator, during the Accomack County Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20. A total refund of $158,713 is in order, according to Mason, going back to 2020.
This includes interest, as required by the code of Virginia in such matters.
He added that it required a decrease in the county’s personal property tax budget by this amount, coupled with a similar increase in its income budget.
When asked by Supervisor Robert Crockett how this might have occurred, Mason explained it was likely the result of a simple computer dropdown menu error at the DMV, given that Accomack County is first alphabetically in the computer system, that went undetected for a few years until discovered by Norfolk Southern.
The supervisors voted unanimously to approve Mason’s request.
