The correct rate of .39 was recently approved by the Columbus Town Council for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

According to Holloman, tax bills for Columbus are prepared by Polk County staff, and they were calculated based on the assumption that the Columbus fire tax would be added separately, as county fire tax is added separately.

County employees did not catch that the .39 rate includes the city&squo;s fire tax.

The Polk County Tax Department has written a letter of apology to Columbus residents, which was mailed with the corrected tax bills on Friday, July 17.

Residents may call the Columbus Town Hall, 828-894-8500, with questions about their tax bills.