RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond Mayor Danny Avula is apologizing for the "confusion" caused by a "system error" that led to real estate property tax bills being mailed out to Richmonders with mortgages.
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."
A bunch of extra real estate tax bills got mailed out this week by the City of Richmond. Usually these only go to your mortgage company.
— Gumby Dot Gov (Council Member Breton) (@gumbydotgov) May 17, 2025
Your mortgage company handles these payments. This extra copy sent to you is for informational purposes only. And it’s confusing.
Do not…
Breton shared this message from the mayor's office:
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 in terms of getting the right data into the right place" from the Richmond Finance Department.
"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 and officials released the following information about "what next steps to take" on Saturday afternoon:
I received an unexpected 2025 Second Half Real Estate Tax Bill, what should I do now?
Last week, the City’s Department of Finance issued “2025 Second Half Real Estate Tax Bills” to residents. These bills accurately reflect what taxpayers owe. However, for taxpayers who hold mortgages, these bills are typically sent to the mortgage lender to be paid on their behalf. Last week, that normal process did not happen and several thousand taxpayers were issued their bills directly.
What happened?
While importing new taxpayer data provided by mortgage lenders — a process which occurs twice per year — at least 33,000 taxpayer records failed to import completely. These records lacked the data necessary to link taxpayers to their mortgage lenders which resulted in many residents directly receiving real estate tax bills that typically are sent to lenders.
MUNIS, the system that runs the real estate billing process, was upgraded to a new version mid-cycle this year. The first-half billing, running on the outdated system, ran successfully. The Department of Finance is working with the team from MUNIS to diagnose what happened during the second-half billing process.
The Department of Finance will reimport this data, and, once that is completed, checked, and verified, they will issue real estate tax bill to mortgage lenders.
How will you keep this from happening again?
The Department of Finance team is working with the MUNIS vendor to investigate the root cause of this issue. Once diagnosed, Finance will rollout additional Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and training to all staff involved in the real estate tax billing process. If necessary, technical updates may be applied to the MUNIS system.
New SOPs and review processes will be created for all external communications from the Department of Finance — not just real estate tax billing.
What do I need to do?
If you received an unexpected ”2025 Second Half Real Estate Tax Bill” and your mortgage lender typically pays your real estate tax bill on your behalf, you can contact your lender and ask how to make sure your bill gets paid.
If you typically receive and pay your own real estate tax bill, you should do so before June 16.
What if I already paid the bill and then my lender pays the bill, too?
The Department of Finance will credit your account for the overpayment. Taxpayers can request a refund by calling 311.
What if I normally get a bill?
If you normally get a bill for real estate tax — most likely because you do not have mortgage lender — you can pay the bill as normal.
What if I don’t own the property that I'm getting a bill for?
If you have an online account, log in and cancel your electronic fund transfer.If you need additional assistance, please contact 311.
What if I didn’t get a bill?
You should log into your online account, or contact 311 if you need additional assistance.
When are real estate tax bills due?
Real estate tax payments are due to the City of Richmond on June 16. While the Department of Finance anticipates issuing bills to mortgage lenders within the coming days, taxpayers can contact their lender to ensure their bill is successfully paid.
I still have questions, who can I contact?
Individuals with additional questions can call 311 for more information.
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.
RELATED: Richmond sent out at least 200 incorrect personal property bills, email reveals
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 is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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