More than 5,000 homeowners in Newport News had a real estate tax bill mailed to their homes by mistake, according to the city.
The city treasurer’s office doesn’t usually send bills to homeowners who have a mortgage company that maintains an escrow account to pay their real estate taxes and stormwater fees, but a system error led to the bills being mailed by accident. There were 5,152 homeowners who use Lereta Tax Service Corporation to pay those bills who were affected, according to City Treasurer Marty Eubank.
All of the accounts were updated and marked as paid on May 9 in the online real estate taxation system, Eubank said.
Eubank attributed the error to the way Lereta Tax Service submitted its electronic list of accounts. The company submitted the payments the way it normally does, but the treasurer’s office then received another file with more accounts, which confused the system, and made it appear as though the homeowner did not use the mortgage company to pay the bills.
Eubank said the city’s information technology department was looking into the issue to prevent it from happening again.
Eubank said taxpayers who have a mortgage company that manages those payments on their behalf can disregard the bill they received in the mail.
Those who want to verify that the bill has already been paid can contact their mortgage company or can reach out to the city treasurer’s office at 757-926-8731.
The city’s website is also updated to show that the affected taxpayers don’t owe any money. To check online, visit www.nnva.gov/property and click on “Taxes Due Detail.” Those who have already paid will see that they don’t owe anything.
Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com
