By Heather Michon
Correspondent
Computer issues with processing and mailing Fluvanna County’s first half-year tax bills unexpectedly extended the payment deadline from June 5 to June 21.
Fluvanna County Treasurer Deborah Rittenhouse said that after supervisors set the tax rates in mid-April, the commissioner of the revenue uses the new rates to generate land and personal property tax books. Once that process is complete, the files are sent to the treasurer’s office.
“We do a file run and check random files to make sure the information is correct,” she said. “This year, there were problems within our system which caused inaccurate files.”
Her office brought in a specialist and two technicians to fix the problem. Between the three of them, “the problem was solved and we were able to come up with a file that was ready to send to the printer.”
Because people received their bills later than normal, Rittenhouse asked the supervisors for an extension to give people a little more time to pay. The Board of Supervisors approved the one-time extension at its May 15 meeting.
Real Estate bills
When bills started arriving around May 13, local social media groups lit up with questions and concerns about why they received both real estate tax and property tax bills.
For those with mortgages, real estate bills usually go straight to their mortgage lenders and are paid by the lenders via escrow.
“This is something new this year,” said Rittenhouse.
She stressed that the real estate billing statements are for informational purposes only and that electronic bills have been sent to mortgage companies as usual.
Her office receives calls from people with escrow accounts about their real estate taxes. Now, all taxpayers will get that information each half-year.
“The feedback has been very positive,” she says.
The treasurer’s office can be reached at 434-591-1945 and the commissioner of the revenue at 434-591-1940.
