Property tax bills go to wrong recipients - Computer glitch sends statements to parcels' owners, not mortgage firms

Mecklenburg County incorrectly sent almost 2,400 property tax bills to property owners instead of mortgage companies last week, sparking confusion about who is responsible for paying the taxes.

Neal Dixon, the county's tax collector, said his office is still working to determine what caused the glitch.

The problem affects 1,636 property owners with mortgages from the State Employees Credit Union, 721 property owners with First Charter mortgages and 40 with mortgages from Springs Mortgage Corp.

Those people received a bill calling for payment. Instead, the bill should have been sent to the mortgage company and the property owner should have received a letter telling them that had been done.

Dixon said he is working with the three companies, and the county will provide them with a corrected list of bills for payment.

All three companies said taxpayers shouldn't worry about the bill.

"Essentially, they don't have to do anything," said Kevin Toombs, a spokesman for First Charter. "It'll be taken care of."

The county mailed out 366,284 property tax bills on Aug. 30, mostly for real estate. The last day to pay them without incurring interest is Jan. 5.

Out of those, almost half were supposed to go to mortgage companies, which often hold money in escrow to pay property taxes.

The mortgage companies are responsible for electronically sending the county a list of parcel numbers so the tax office can send the correct bills. Dixon said the companies provided that information. But somehow, the computer system the county uses to generate the bills skipped over roughly half of the bills that were supposed to be sent to those companies.

Instead, the bills were mistakenly sent to the property owners.

Dixon said the county discovered the problem this week, and still isn't sure why it happened.

County information technology head Jerry Pinkard said staff members are working to fix the problem and find a way to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Less than 1 percent of the bills mailed were incorrect, but taxpayers who received them said they were concerned. Some bills are for thousands of dollars.

Tricia Cotham, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools employee with a home in Mint Hill, said she's had her mortgage since 2002 and has never before received a bill.

She approached her mortgage company, the State Employees Credit Union, earlier this week. The employee at her branch was confused, too, she said.

"I was definitely a little bit alarmed and concerned, and I just didn't know what the procedure was," she said. "I've never seen a bill like that."

Cotham said she was worried about whether her taxes would be paid, and didn't know how to forward the bill to the mortgage company.

Mark Coburn, vice president of loan servicing for the State Employees Credit Union, said his department will send an e-mail to Mecklenburg branches, alerting them to the problem so they can tell customers not to worry.

"We never want the member to have to end up bringing their tax bill in," he said. "We'll make sure they all get paid."

What Should You Do?

First Charter, Springs Mortgage Corp. and the State Employee Credit Union said property owners who received a bill meant for them shouldn't worry about it. The county will provide correct information so the mortgage company can pay the bill.

Most bills are paid closer to the Jan. 5 deadline.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Tax Collector Neal Dixon said taxpayers who are concerned can check with the county before the deadline to make sure the bill has been paid.