$8M Revenue Shortfall Blamed on Bad DB Entry

SierraPete writes "Yahoo! News reports that an improper database entry, most likely caused by an external user, has created an $8 Million USD revenue shortfall for a northwestern Indiana county because a house that was supposed to be valued at $121,000 showed a value in the database at $800,000,000. There's no specific suggestion that this erroneous entry was done maliciously, but it is leading to big problems in the local governments as they try to figure out how to drop that much money out of their respective budgets. As an aside, how would you like to be in the homeowner's shoes when he opens up his mail box and finds an $8M property tax bill? I'm sure there was a trip to the emergency room or the dry cleaners involved."

Well, with today's taxes

[ral8158]

I mean, that's not a huge error, now is it?

Read the Article....

[shoemakc]

Read the article: It says the shortfall occured because the home was incorectly valued; The taxes on an 8 million dollar home are not 8 million dollars...but a fraction of that.

So here on Long Island for example, taxes would only be about 7 million...

-Chris

Re:400 not 800

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, you've been reading Slashdot for what, 9 years? And you've only just noticed that story summaries suck the giant horned choad of Satan?

Get rich quick scheme

[technoextreme]

Sell the house at $400 million dollars. Pay the taxes and then run away never to be seen again.

Re:400 not 800

[Anonymous Coward]

Did anyone actually bother to rtfa, or is it just cool to make up numbers for post summaries now?

"A house erroneously valued at $400 million"
"The house had been valued at $121,900 before the glitch."

Oh! That settles it then. Nothing to see here.

Re:If it were my house...

[MrWa]

Have you interacted with real people in the US anytime in the last 6 years? Very few people seem to be mildly associated with reality...

To err is human...

[linebackn]

To err is human, but to really foul things up takes a computer.

And to make a total disastrous mess takes a computer _operated_ by a human.

Damn 2% tax rate.

[the eric conspiracy]

I wish my tax rate were that low. I'm paying more like 3%.

Re:The homeowner

[FidelCatsro]

Yeah nobody would believe that one , unless Comcast had reduced their prices recently

Re:Crappy Software + Dumb People = Bad Stuff

[El_Muerte_TDS]

Great Software + Dumb People = Bad Stuff

So it's doesn't really matter in case of dumb people.

Although... we now have a problem.

Great Software + Dumb People = Bad Stuff = Crappy Software + Dumb People
Great Software = Crappy Software

Re:If it were my house...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Have you interacted with real people in the US anytime in the last 6 years?"

You obviously haven't, but being /. readers ourselves, we understand.