Board members had believed they were approving an almost $102 million budget with a 2.5 percent increase in the tax levy, but because of a mix up between the board and the treasurer’s office, it turned out to be a 22 percent increase.

County Board Chairman Donald Lindberg readily admitted that although he and the board are ultimately responsible, he did not realize what he was voting for. And, it appears, neither did the rest of the board.

Ronald Feldstein, chairman of the Administration Committee which helped oversee the budget process, said he, too, had no idea he was voting to raise the property-tax levy by more than 20 percent.

According to Lindberg, the miscalculation which resulted in the 22 percent increase stemmed from not accounting for tax-exempt properties when estimating the tax levy. By not factoring in the tax-exempt properties, the increase in the levy appeared to be much smaller than it actually was.

Otsego County treasurer Myrna Thayne said she never misled board members, pointing to her 2007 tentative budget package, which states that the tax levy will increase by $2,508,047.

But elsewhere in the document it states: ``The 2007 budget property tax levy increase is 2.4977 percent from the prior year.’’

It appears to us, the board of representatives received some conflicting or confusing information from the treasurer, who has to shoulder some of the responsibility for the mistake. But what the treasurer told them should have been enough information for someone on the board to realize those numbers made no sense.

It doesn’t require an accounting degree to look at a budget summary and see if things add up.

In order for an extra $2.5 million to be a 2.5 percent increase in a tax levy, the levy would have to be $100 million. Otsego County’s tax levy last year was $11.4 million _ a 2.5 percent increase would be about $285,000. But when you increase last year’s tax levy by $2.5 million dollars it comes out, as the board of representatives discovered last week, to a 22 percent increase. [an error occurred while processing this directive]