RICHMOND, Va. — The City of Richmond issued more than 8,000 tax rebate checks made out to an incorrect recipient in March due to an "administrative error," leading to an audit uncovering multiple errors in the process.
"In March 2025, an administrative error led to approximately 8,300 of the nearly 60,000 one-time property tax rebate checks being issued to an incorrect payee (“Hartshorn Community Council”)," wrote a city spokesperson in a press release on Monday. "Once aware of the error, Department of Finance Director Sheila White halted distribution of checks and immediately began an audit of the process."
That audit uncovered three other errors:
- Rebate checks for owners who sold their property in 2024 were incorrectly sent to the current owners of that property
- Approximately 156 rebates were issued for parcels that did not exist in 2024, while the rebate only applies to 2024 property taxes
- Some correctly issued checks were also stopped after the initial error
The Department of Finance is currently validating the remaining checks, according to the city, and will issue the appropriate checks when that process igs complete.
Jamie Atkinson, who oversees the rebate program as the Director of Revenue Administration, submitted her resignation last Monday, April 21. Senior Director of the department Sheila White will now oversee issuing the remaining checks.
Sarah Abubaker, who represents the 4th District on City Council, said she believes Atkinson was "collateral damage" to a "broken" Finance Department.
"It's fascinating that the Department of Finance somehow manages to get out our personal property tax bills on time but can't get our rebate checks on time," Abubaker said. "To me, this is another one of those things where somebody had to fall on the sword, and it was probably the person actually making the change, rather than the person that should be held accountable."
Kenya Gibson, who represents the 3rd District on City Council, stated that "Richmonders deserve the truth in real time."
"This is especially maddening in a moment when we are learning about another issue at the water plant and debating the merit of five-figure raises for the highest-paid administrators," Gibson said. "But when it comes to this check debacle, we need to know why we didn’t alert the public immediately when we stopped payment, and how much this mistake is going to cost us. I know this isn’t reflective of the city Mayor Avula believes we can be. Progress requires accountability. We need to audit the issues, bring more transparency to our systems, and own up to our mistakes. We can do these things together."
What should I do if I received an incorrect check?
Any resident who was charged bank fees attempting to cash a valid, stopped check can submit a request for reimbursement via RVA311 by calling 311 or submitting a ticket online at rva311.com.
Requests should be submitted by May 30, 2025.
Were you affected by this issue? Click here to email Tyler Layne and the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky| Facebook| Instagram| X| Threads| TikTok| YouTube
