ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A costly error in Pinellas County could cost employees some cash.

  • Pinellas employees with domestic partners on benefits may owe IRS
  • County's human resources investigating the error
  • County hopes to have available option by August

Last year, the county's human resources director said the agency discovered employees who had a domestic partner on their benefits package owed the IRS taxes from 2013 to 2017. 

That's because the portion of those benefits that the county covers is supposed to be taxed and paid by the employee and was not. 

It is an error the county says was on its end when they started offering those benefits in 2013. 

A little more than 100 employees could end up paying for the portion they owe of the collective estimated $250,000 in unpaid taxes. 

Pinellas officials said the county is looking at other options. 

"All of us really feel for the individuals that are impacted by this," said Holly Schoenherr, Director of Human Resources. "This is a very unfortunate situation.

"It's something where I think everyone just wants to make sure we're doing the right thing, whatever that is so recent reports to me would indicate that as we reach out to individuals in the near future there will be some relief that the county will be offering to them to help them through this situation." 

County officials plan to schedule a meeting to discuss the next steps in rectifying the situation. 

A decision could be made by early August.