May 17, 2025

I received an unexpected 2025 Second Half Real Estate Tax Bill, what should I do now?

Last week, the City’s Department of Finance issued “2025 Second Half Real Estate Tax Bills” to residents. These bills accurately reflect what taxpayers owe. However, for taxpayers who hold mortgages, these bills are typically sent to the mortgage lender to be paid on their behalf. Last week, that normal process did not happen and several thousand taxpayers were issued their bills directly.

What happened?

While importing new taxpayer data provided by mortgage lenders — a process which occurs twice per year — at least 33,000 taxpayer records failed to import completely. These records lacked the data necessary to link taxpayers to their mortgage lenders which resulted in many residents directly receiving real estate tax bills that typically are sent to lenders.

MUNIS, the system that runs the real estate billing process, was upgraded to a new version mid-cycle this year. The first-half billing, running on the outdated system, ran successfully. The Department of Finance is working with the team from MUNIS to diagnose what happened during the second-half billing process.

The Department of Finance will reimport this data, and, once that is completed, checked, and verified, they will issue real estate tax bill to mortgage lenders.

How will you keep this from happening again?

The Department of Finance team is working with the MUNIS vendor to investigate the root cause of this issue. Once diagnosed, Finance will rollout additional Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and training to all staff involved in the real estate tax billing process. If necessary, technical updates may be applied to the MUNIS system.

New SOPs and review processes will be created for all external communications from the Department of Finance — not just real estate tax billing.

What do I need to do?

If you received an unexpected "2025 Second Half Real Estate Tax Bill" and your mortgage lender typically pays your real estate tax bill on your behalf, you can contact your lender and ask how to make sure your bill gets paid.

If you typically receive and pay your own real estate tax bill, you should do so before June 16.

What if I already paid the bill and then my lender pays the bill, too?

The Department of Finance will credit your account. Taxpayers can request a refund, and you can check your account balance online or by calling 311.

What if I normally get a bill?

If you normally get a bill for real estate tax — most likely because you do not have mortgage lender — you can pay the bill as normal.

What if I don't own the property that I'm getting a bill for?

If you have an online account, log in and cancel your electronic fund transfer. If you need additional assistance, please contact 311.

What if I didn't get a bill?

You should log into your online account, or contact 311 if you need additional assistance.

When are real estate tax bills due?

Real estate tax payments are due to the City of Richmond on June 16. While the Department of Finance anticipates issuing bills to mortgage lenders within the coming days, taxpayers can contact their lender to ensure their bill is successfully paid.

I still have questions, who can I contact?

Individuals with additional questions can call 311 for more information.