Ramsey County Residents, Biz Owners Refunded After Double Billing

ST. PAUL, MN — Ramsey County officials say that all funds have been returned after hundreds of businesses and residents were double-billed for their property taxes.

A total of 678 residents and business owners who made an online payment between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2 were charged again in the same amount as their original payment on Oct. 13.

On Oct. 16, 99 percent of funds were returned to impacted residents and businesses the same day the issue was discovered in the total amount of $3,711,843.78, officials said. The next day, the remaining 1 percent of funds were returned to impacted residents and businesses in the total amount of $35,339.44.

County officials say the error was an isolated incident related to its new electronic payment system for the county.

"It was implemented approximately a year and a half ago," officials said. "There have been no issues regarding electronic payments until this incident. The county is continuing to work with the vendor, CORE, to understand the full details of the incident and will provide updates as they are available."

In total, $3,747,183.22 was returned to customers.

"The immediate priority of the county was addressing the return of funds to impacted residents and businesses as swiftly as possible," the county added.

"With this resolved, the county’s focus will shift to assessing and addressing broader impacts. The county is taking this very seriously and cares deeply about the impacts on residents and businesses. This broader analysis will take some time. We will continue to communicate with impacted residents and businesses to provide updates as we work through this process with the vendor."