Plenty of blame was passed around Monday when talk turned to whom, if anyone, to blame for a drop in personal property values in Warren County this year, which may prompt a $25 tax increase.

In the end, the board faulted itself.

Personal property assessments dropped 24 percent this year, a dip linked to a parcel for Ergon Refining assigned in 2010 but deleted by the Board of Supervisors in December 2011, according to a petition distributed in the meeting room by Tax Assessor Angela Brown.

It showed the $13 million list of items was assessed twice, then adjusted late last year. The petition, issued when the rolls must be adjusted, was signed by District 5 Supervisor Richard George, last year’s board president, and former deputy tax assessor Jim Agent. Its existence for tax purposes in 2011 was on paper and taxes weren’t levied by the county. Tax revenue on the personal property, which refers to assets not fixed to land, went to the city. The account reflected a fee-in-lieu of property taxes, which allowed the company to pay taxes on one-third of assessed values.

“That is the reason it was supposedly a drop,” Brown said. “The property was property taxes, which dictated the company pay taxes on one-third of the equipment’s assessed value.

“If a property was double-assessed, it shouldn’t have been on the 2011 roll in the first place. But, it was put on there, then taken off. I find it hard to believe no one knew about it.”

Supervisors said they’d review multipage property adjustment documents more carefully in the future.

“We’re ultimately responsible as a board,” District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon said. “If it’s anybody’s fault, it’s our fault.”

Board minutes reflected the petition was signed a month after supervisors approved it in the boardroom and five months after supervisors had declared rolls fully equalized. Why the board didn’t question the looming change to the property roll remained a mystery.

“We don’t need this kind of error to happen again,” Board President Bill Lauderdale said.

Taxes might rise about $25.60 to reflect a higher levy from the county to balance the fiscal 2013 budget. To avoid higher taxes, building permit fees might be raised and supervisors may hold back on paying more than $114,000 to fund salaries in offices now vacant.

One post is a clerical position in Brown’s office, an item that appeared in The Vicksburg Post on Saturday following 2½ hours of budget talks Friday.

“It is unprofessional for an elected official and department head of Warren County to read in the newspaper for the first time that a position has been discussed to be cut in her office,” Brown said.

Other positions that might go unfilled in 2013 are an operations officer in emergency management, part-time help in the tax collector’s office and seven posts in the sheriff’s department. Spending in current budget drafts totals $15 million.