Did you get a Real Estate Tax bill?
I know my wife and I had a quick freak out when we received a bill for our real estate taxes the other day. Isn’t that what I pay into an escrow account for? Our sister site on the other side of the river, Hills and Heights, clears things up a bit:
The Department of Finance recently mailed all real estate bills to the property owner, including those bills intended for owner’s mortgage escrow accounts. This has generated a tremendous volume of phone calls for everyone. Finance distributed an explanation to the 311 Call Center and other departments who may be receiving calls.
The owner does not have to do anything. If the owner has an escrow account, do not pay the bill. The correct bill will be provided to the mortgage company for payment.
DO NOT PAY THE BILL. Whew.
Update
The official statement from the city:
Real estate tax bills were mailed on Friday, May 15, 2009, to all property owners and mortgage holders. The bills mailed to property owners were a duplicate communication and didn’t clearly indicate that escrow agents were also being billed directly. The City apologizes for any inconvenience this has caused.
Property Owners who have escrow agents paying their real estate taxes should know that those escrow agents have been billed by the City. This duplicate bill was intended to help property owners who may have recently paid off or refinanced their mortgages, as they may need this information to meet their responsibilities or forward to a new escrow agent.
What’s amazing is that it didn’t occur to ANYONE to send a letter explaining that with the bill.
What is even more amazing is the cost of sending these “copies” to everyone. (postage, cost of printing) Way to go City of Richmond! I could think of several ways to spend that money on things people actually need. Not one of them would be this “copy” of a bill that we get notified from our mortgage companies of how much they paid from our escrow account.
What will they do if people actually pay this. Will they send the $$ back? Is this a sad fundraising tactic?
How much did it cost to mail out these “duplicates” to all the homeowners in the city?
What a waste of our money. Surely the cost of printing and mailing could have been better used in property rehabilitation programs, or to enforce actions against negligent slumlords.
City Council again betrays its citizens with bad decisions.
They also included return envelopes with their “copies.”
Yes, they did it with typical clumsiness, BUT it’s not a bad idea for folks to be aware of what they’re really paying in property taxes. Bundled into the mortgage, you don’t realize, and it’s important to keep up with: your year to year assessment, and the city’s tax rate.
According to Channel 12 news it was in the range of $13k just for postage.
The City already sends the assessment each year. There was no need for this “copy”.