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Double-billing closes online tax collections

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: November 4, 2009

TAMPA - At least 20 Hillsborough County residents, and possibly as many as 195, were double-billed for their property taxes this week because of a California company's computer malfunction.

R.T. Lawrence Corp., a California company that processes online payments for Hillsborough Tax Collector Doug Belden's office, also handles Charlotte County's online tax collections. The company's computer system debited some Hillsborough residents' accounts for Charlotte tax payments.

One man had his account mistakenly debited for $10,000 twice - once for his Hillsborough County tax payment and again for Charlotte County.

About 195 taxpayers who used the county's E-check online payment system Sunday may have been affected, said Brenden Chiaramonte, Belden's administrative aide. As of Tuesday afternoon, 20 people told the tax collector's office they had money improperly debited from their bank accounts.

"We don't know if everybody had an issue," Chiaramonte said. "Until they call us, we don't know if they had a problem."

Larry Tong, director of operations for R.T. Lawrence, said the company was working with banks to rectify the problem and restore overdrafts.

"For the last four or five hours, I've been busy working on my priority: that we credit all our customers' money that was drawn out of their accounts," Tong said.
Belden closed the online payment function on his office's Web site after callers notified the tax collectors' office about the billing problems. Chiaramonte said the system should be back up today.

"We're doing testing to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said. "We want to make sure everything is sound in the system."

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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