Tax admin takes blame for missing millions

WILMINGTON — The man responsible for a $10 million budget shortfall in New Hanover County is stepping up and accepting the blame.

The damage has already been done and now the county’s tax administrator is working with officials to try and remedy the situation.

New Hanover County Tax Administrator Bob Glasgow says he realized his mistake about two and a half weeks ago.

Glasgow says he began comparing property appraisal values and noticed a difference in numbers.

Glasgow blames himself for the mistake and says he didn’t subtract tax exempt properties, which made up about $1.8 billion in New Hanover County‘s property appraisal values, from the total amount. That mistake resulted in the county creating the 2007- 2008 budget for about $10 million more than they had coming in.

Glasgow said, “I’m sick about it, because I’m so close to retirement and I hate to see going out in a bad state of affairs. Once again, we thought that we had the correct information.”

Glasgow is retiring from his position in May after 12 years on the job.

Wednesday the county attorney met with Glasgow and members of the finance department to try and figure out a solution to the budget shortfall.