Petersburg set to mail corrected real estate tax bills to residents

PETERSBURG, Va. (WWBT) - When thousands of Petersburg residents saw a smaller-than-expected quarterly real estate tax bill back in September, they were pleasantly surprised but soon realized the bill was too good to be true.

“I knew that the other shoe was going to drop,” said one homeowner. “We did learn that there was a mistake in the billing.”

The city says the mistake was due to a software glitch. Despite property values rising in Petersburg, the city says the glitch caused nearly 11,000 properties to be billed incorrectly with last year’s tax rate, which resulted in lower quarterly payments for residents.

“I paid it, and then I never heard anything else going on, but yes, we did learn,” said the frustrated homeowner.

Petersburg’s current tax rate is $127 per $100 assessed value. Approximately 3,400 properties were unaffected by the error.

The city says residents should begin receiving the new bills throughout the week since the 2nd quarter real estate property tax bills started going out to residents and businesses on Friday. The payment is due by the end of the month.

The supplemental bills from the city’s error back in September will be mailed out in January, and residents will have until March 31st to pay the extra charge.

All bills mailed for 2nd quarter of real estate property taxes will reflect the new real property assessment and tax rate. Approximately 11,000 supplemental real property tax bills will be sent in January 2023.

The city says if the real estate property assessment did not increase or decrease in 2022, then the 1st quarter real property tax bill was correct. These properties will not receive a supplemental statement next year.

Residents say while they can appreciate the city resolving the issue, the city should never have made a mistake in the first place.

“I’ve not gotten my new bill yet, but supposedly that increase will be spread out over several bills, but it’s gonna mean that I’m gonna pay more in the first place because of reassessment,” the resident said.”

The tax rate is determined when the City Assessor sends all new real property values to the Commissioner of Revenue each year to update the Land Book with the latest real property values for the upcoming year.

The Commissioner of Revenue’s office incorporates new assessments into the Land Book and is responsible for sending all updated real property values along with the new tax rate to Billing and Collections.

Billing and Collections are responsible for printing and mailing the real estate property tax bills each quarter. Residents with questions about upcoming payments are asked to call (804) 733-2349.

According to the city, citizens and businesses can now start paying the supplemental tax bill. However, there will be approximately a three-month grace period to pay the supplemental real estate property tax bill.

The city is still working on merging 1st quarter real estate property payments received to reflect all transactions in the customer’s account online.

If a resident has overpaid and requires an abatement, please get in touch with the Commissioner of the Revenue, Brittany Flowers, at bflowers@petersburg-va.org or (804) 733-2315.

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