Authorities say a Georgia town is facing a massive budget shortfall, partly due to a tax error involving an IKEA furniture distribution center.

The Savannah Morning News reports that Port Wentworth officials have laid off six employees, suspended holiday pay and taken other steps to try and make up for the shortfall.

City Administrator Phillip Claxton says Port Wentworth expects to take in less than half of the $1.3 million in property taxes it was budgeted to collect this year.

Claxton says the biggest chunk of the shortfall is more than $400,000 in taxes the city was forced to repay because of an error by the Chatham County Tax Assessor's Office. It mistakenly put the Swedish furniture company's distribution center in Port Wentworth instead of unincorporated Chatham County.

Tags: Port Wentworth, budget shortfall, Chatham County, Ikea, Chatham County Tax Assessor's Office, IKEA furniture