RICHMOND, Va. — A city council member is warning Richmonders with mortgages about "extra real estate tax bills" that were mailed out this week. Councilmember Andrew Breton (1st District) wrote on social media Saturday morning to "not make the mistake of double-paying" as the bills are typically sent to and handled directly by mortgage companies. "This extra copy sent to you is for informational purposes only. And it’s confusing," Breton posted around 9 a.m. "Call 311 with questions. They have weekend hours and a call-back feature." 1. If you have a mortgage, your real estate bill is usually sent directly to your lender to pay on your behalf.
2. That will still happen.
3. This time you were also sent the bill. It's a copy, but we weren't clear about that.
4. We are sorry for the confusion and will be prepared to respond to all your questions, working to get out more communication now! Avula later addressed what he called a "system error" from the Richmond Finance Department and apologized for the confusion. "I have been hearing from many residents across the city and from our partners on council that people received a second-half real estate property tax bill," he said. "I got one too. And I imagine many of you, like I, are confused because typically this bill goes directly to my lender, who pays it on my behalf. And that did not happen this time." The mayor said he learned about the issue Saturday morning. "We need a little bit more time, but we will likely this afternoon get some direction for you up on RVA.gov and recorded onto 311, so that you can, know exactly what next steps to take," Avula said. This latest glitch comes after the Finance Department sent out at least 200 incorrect personal property tax bills, CBS 6 Investigative Reporter Tyler Layne reported last week. Some viewers also reached out to CBS 6 with questions about their car tax bills, and some councilmembers said they've also fielded concerns about potential issues. In an email sent last week, a liaison for Breton told Interim Chief Administrative Officer Sabrina Joy-Hogg that "several residents with vehicles over 20 years old" had their assessments jump over $20,000 despite receiving an assessment of around $2,300 last year. In response, finance department contractor Anne Seward stated in an email that incorrect bills were sent to 223 taxpayers, which she called a "small population." She said there was a "conversion year glitch" at the 20-year mark in the valuation methodology that impacted vehicles with 2004 and 2005 models. Seward added that corrected bills are being uploaded to impacted customers' online accounts and will re-issued through the mail. City spokesperson Ross Catrow said the mistakes impacted 0.1% of customers as the department handles tax billing for over 200,000 vehicles. Catrow added that the department is operating at a 1% correction rate for personal property tax bills, which is down from 2-3% last year. He said finance is focused on improving its data collection from third parties, automating processes, increasing response times, and strengthening internal controls. Councilmember Kenya Gibson (3rd District) said it was "incredibly concerning" to learn of another finance department issue on the heels of more than 8,000 incorrect rebate checks being issued back in March. "I've expressed concern about the high rates of turnover in the finance department for this very reason. Accountability begins with training and consistency," she said in a statement. The city previously attributed the rebate checks errors to poor quality controls and said the finance department had no standard operating procedures in place that could've helped prevent the problems. At the time, Councilmember Ellen Robertson said she was "not feeling any real comfort" that the finance department wouldn't "continue to have some glitches that have not been addressed." This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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2. That will still happen.
3. This time you were also sent the bill. It's a copy, but we weren't clear about that.
4. We are sorry for the confusion and will be prepared to respond to all your questions, working to get out more communication now! Avula later addressed what he called a "system error" from the Richmond Finance Department and apologized for the confusion. "I have been hearing from many residents across the city and from our partners on council that people received a second-half real estate property tax bill," he said. "I got one too. And I imagine many of you, like I, are confused because typically this bill goes directly to my lender, who pays it on my behalf. And that did not happen this time." The mayor said he learned about the issue Saturday morning. "We need a little bit more time, but we will likely this afternoon get some direction for you up on RVA.gov and recorded onto 311, so that you can, know exactly what next steps to take," Avula said. This latest glitch comes after the Finance Department sent out at least 200 incorrect personal property tax bills, CBS 6 Investigative Reporter Tyler Layne reported last week. Some viewers also reached out to CBS 6 with questions about their car tax bills, and some councilmembers said they've also fielded concerns about potential issues. In an email sent last week, a liaison for Breton told Interim Chief Administrative Officer Sabrina Joy-Hogg that "several residents with vehicles over 20 years old" had their assessments jump over $20,000 despite receiving an assessment of around $2,300 last year. In response, finance department contractor Anne Seward stated in an email that incorrect bills were sent to 223 taxpayers, which she called a "small population." She said there was a "conversion year glitch" at the 20-year mark in the valuation methodology that impacted vehicles with 2004 and 2005 models. Seward added that corrected bills are being uploaded to impacted customers' online accounts and will re-issued through the mail. City spokesperson Ross Catrow said the mistakes impacted 0.1% of customers as the department handles tax billing for over 200,000 vehicles. Catrow added that the department is operating at a 1% correction rate for personal property tax bills, which is down from 2-3% last year. He said finance is focused on improving its data collection from third parties, automating processes, increasing response times, and strengthening internal controls. Councilmember Kenya Gibson (3rd District) said it was "incredibly concerning" to learn of another finance department issue on the heels of more than 8,000 incorrect rebate checks being issued back in March. "I've expressed concern about the high rates of turnover in the finance department for this very reason. Accountability begins with training and consistency," she said in a statement. The city previously attributed the rebate checks errors to poor quality controls and said the finance department had no standard operating procedures in place that could've helped prevent the problems. At the time, Councilmember Ellen Robertson said she was "not feeling any real comfort" that the finance department wouldn't "continue to have some glitches that have not been addressed." This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
