A 0.05 percent computing mistake by the Wyoming Department of Revenue has caused a $1.3 million error in the Capital Facilities tax fund that will pay for the new Gillette Campus building.

The mistake caused $1.3 million more than the tax had earned to be distributed to the account.

The state will correct the error, taking $156,296 from the taxes earned for the next seven months, but it won't affect the timeline of the new campus building project, Gillette Campus Director Jerry Winter assured campus advisers at a meeting on Wednesday.

"What it means is that we'll have to depend on the foundation for some money in March or April" instead of in August as was planned, Winter said.

The mistake has also pushed back the finish date for the tax. Based on previous projections, made before the mistake had been caught, officials thought the tax would collect the voter-approved $9.6 million by February or March and the tax would expire. Now, the tax is not expected to expire until June or July.

If it hadn't added up to $1.3 million, the mistake might have seemed almost too minor to notice.

It originated in the Department of Revenue's database program used to calculate tax distributions across the state. The county's Capital Facilities Tax is a quarter-percent tax, or one penny for every $4 spent. But the computer program used to calculate it had rounded the 0.25 percent tax to a 0.3 percent tax, creating a 0.05 difference, according to a letter from department Director Earl Atwood to Campbell County treasurer Shirley Study.

The department discovered the mistake in a routine audit of its tax distribution system. The mistake over-funded the tax's account from January 2001 to September 2002, or for 21 months. It short-changed the city of Gillette by $222,647 over that time period, the town of Wright by $15,338, Campbell County by $143,619 and the state by $967,835. Those agencies will be paid back by the money taken from the tax's account to correct the mistake.

Campbell County voter's approved the quarter-percent Capital Facilities Tax in 2000 to pay for a new Gillette Campus building. It has so far collected about $8.5 million out of the approved $9.6 million.

Before the mistake was caught, it had collected between $350,000 to $455,000 a month since July. With the correction and the deductions to make up the mistake, projected earnings are between $96,000 to $223,000 from January to June.

Construction on the new Gillette Campus building, located on South 4J Road across from the Campbell County High School South Campus, is expected to be finished by Aug. 15.

The tax is expected to have raised its money, at the latest, by July, so Winter said the tax error won't affect the construction timeline.

Even if construction ends several weeks before schedule, Winter believes the college can cover the bills. The Campbell County Higher Education Foundation recently raised $1.5 million in pledges for the project and the City of Gillette had donated $1.5 million, which is also available.

The News Record

-- Anonymous, December 20, 2002