Property Owners Improperly Billed For Taxes In Canadian County

About 11,000 Canadian County homeowners got a pretty unwelcome surprise in the mail just before the Thanksgiving day holiday – a property tax bill for thousands of dollars that they didn’t owe. 

As if preparing the Thanksgiving feast for your family isn’t stressful enough, imagine getting one of these in the mail. A bill for thousands of dollars you didn’t expect.

“When I opened the letter from the county I see I got this tax bill for about $2,083, and then I seen [sic] where it said I could pay it in half, so it didn’t completely ruin my bird day,” said Yukon homeowner Jerry Adams.

Adams said at first he thought he made a mistake.

“I’m a new homeowner so it was kind of a shock to me. I’m thinking, did I miss something? Did I forget something? Did the mortgage company forget to tell me something?” said Adams.

The answer to all those questions is no. A computer glitch meant people who had their taxes taken out of their mortgage automatically received a bill anyhow.

“The main thing people need to know is calm down. It’s not that you owe double taxes. More or less look it at as a receipt,” said Canadian County Treasurer Carolyn Leck.  “For those who panicked I’m very sorry, but it is a logical thing when you think about it that can happen when you use technology. Technology is not perfect.”

Since the letters went out the Canadian County Treasurers Office has been flooded with calls. The office is working on a fix to make sure this doesn’t happen again.