Late Thursday afternoon, New Castle County officials were alerted to a vendor error that mistakenly sent property tax bills to nearly 51,000 citizens who escrow their taxes through their mortgage lender according to Chief Financial Officer Michael Smith.
Smith said New Castle County is taking actions to alert citizens who received a bill by mistake, by notifying them through letter, that they will not have to remit payment. New Castle County will also update the tax hotline and the tax website.
New Castle County annually sends real estate tax bill files to Rev Springs, the printing vendor for imaging, printing, and mailing tax bills. For citizens who escrow their property taxes through their mortgage lender the vendor is tasked with creating images for the County, which are then uploaded to parcel view, and are not to be printed and mailed. These taxable accounts should not have received a bill because their tax data is provided electronically to their mortgage lender, who in turn pays New Castle County directly through the escrow process.
The Office of Finance is working with the vendor to identify all affected accounts so that a letter can be sent to them explaining the error and that there is no need for them to remit payment, said Smith. Their mortgage company will remit on their behalf. New Castle County’s Office of Finance is updating the website HERE with this information, as well as the automated call line (302) 395-5340.