deep
TRIBE Member
The latest story is that a town in Indiana is facing all sorts of budgetary problems due to someone (probably not employed by the city) who incorrectly entered a computer system and valued a $122k house at $400 million.
The city used the valuations to estimate tax revenue for the year, and the difference boosted this homeowner's expected taxes from $1,500 to $8 million.
Without any safeguards or any humans checking into what was going on, much of that $8 million got allocated to local schools and various city projects.
They then spent the expected money, only to discover last week that it doesn't exist.
Again, shouldn't any computer system like this send up an alarm when a $100k house is suddenly valued at $400 million? Heck, shouldn't it send up an alarm when any house is valued at $400 million, no matter what it's previous value was?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_400_Million_House.html