BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

Story updated Jan. 14 at 10:12 a.m.

CANTON -- Staffing and illness issues in December, coupled with late budget filings, led to a number of municipalities receiving incorrect property tax bills.

According to a release from St. Lawrence County Director of Real Property Bruce Green, roughly a dozen municipalities were affected by the errors.

"Unfortunately, the office had some staffing and illness issues in December as we were processing the bills and proper proofing was not performed in this office. We also received some budgets late," Green said.

"County property owners need to know they are to continue paying the tax bills they have received," he continued.

Green said the Real Property office discovered Ogdensburg tax bills were sent out without the correct total levy amount, leading to a review of all tax rolls.

Following that review, Green said the towns of Brasher (Helena Light District), Canton, Potsdam, Rossie and Clifton contained errors with a combined total of just over $2000.

"The lowest error was $.05 in the Town of Canton and the largest error was slightly over $700 in Potsdam and Rossie. We have spoken with each of these towns and St. Lawrence County will correct these internally," he said.

Five additional towns also contained errors, causing some property owners to be undercharged.

"Those towns will be resolving these through the county/town chargeback process on next year's tax bills. The towns impacted by this error are Morristown and Brasher as well as the municipalities of Stockholm, Village of Norwood in Potsdam that make up the Norwood Library District. The largest is Brasher and Stockholm (Brasher-Winthrop Fire District) of $10,753 each. These towns have agreed to fix through the chargeback process," he said.

In the case of Stockholm, town officials met Monday, Jan. 6, to find a solution to the error.

The difference between payments is roughly $100 for the average taxpayer, according to officials in Stockholm

Town Board Member Jedidiah Arquitt said board members discussed a solution to the matter that would not short the fire department.

Arquitt said board members were concerned that without an agreement with the county, the department could be short $10,000 this year.

“Last night we came up with an agreement that would mean the town of Stockholm residents would not see a refund this year for overpayment but instead would see a discount next year on their tax bill, while residents in the town of Brasher would make up that difference next year,” he said.

But the largest issue was found with the town of Pierrepont due to Real Property using the prior year's budget information from the town and the previous year's county tax rate.

Green said that resulted in $51,508 in tax revenue not being billed to the town and $135,663 not billed for the county.

"Pierrepont property owners are being under billed this year. The town will be made whole and the underage will be the responsibility of the county," Green said.

According to Green, the town of Pierrepont is accepting tax payments and no new tax bills will be reissued this year.

Green said the town of Colton had budgeted an additional $215,000 in their 2025 budget, which included water and sewer charges for 207 properties in the water and sewer district, causing miscalculations.

Green said the town had not intended for those to be levied since the town bills for them quarterly.

"Though town officials had included those on the budget. The Real Property Office was obligated to follow the budget that was adopted by the town board. The town will be able to handle these corrections on an individual basis," Green said.

Other issues were also originally reported earlier this week.

Errors related to the Norwood Village Library District which includes the towns of Stockholm, Potsdam and the Village of Norwood in Potsdam.

Green said that the county is working closely with municipalities involved and expects resolutions to be hashed out in the coming days.

"We are discussing what those options will be and expect a plan to be forthcoming," he said.

County officials held several meetings this week once the errors were found to find a solution and to ensure such problems do not occur in the future.

"We sincerely apologize for these errors and appreciate the public’s patience as we work to resolve it," Green said.