According to KRISTV in Corpus Christi, the Nueces County Appraisal District had initially projected that the city would see a 6.6% drop in property value revenues.  However, the actual number was a 2% increase.  The difference in revenue is about $5 million more than initially projected.

The county's chief appraiser, Ollie Grant, called it a simple mistake.  Apparently, a computer program doubled the Homestead Exemption on the total amount of value. 

"We realize what what the city went through, they made a lot of cuts in different things, and we do apologize for that," Grant said. "But it's something we didn't do purposefully, everyone makes mistakes," says Ollie Grant with the Nueces County Appraisal District.

The city was ready to vote on the following year's budget to cut jobs and services because of an $11 million budget shortfall... now it has an extra $5 million to play with. 

"I am alarmed that we... went from 6 percent down to 2 percent up. That's just in my world unacceptable behavior to any consulting entity or any entity that was providing information," Councilman Mark Scott said.

The city posted this question on their Facebook page: "What would you do with the extra money?"  Though the city still faces a $6 million shortfall, some of the anticipated cuts may not be necessary.  A Senior Citizens group is asking for its budget to be restored.

Hey, mistakes happen.  I suppose it is better that the mistake was found now, rather than after the new budget was passed and funding was slashed.  And, it could have been worse... imagine what would have happened if the projected revenue was $5 million more than it actually was.  Services would have been funded only to run out of money before the end of the year.

Still, if you ask me, they should spend some of that "extra" money on a new computer system.  Or, perhaps, hire somebody that knows how to properly use it!