COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland County property tax bills have some residents upset and sounding off online.
Residents reported receiving bills as high as $14,000 and others said their bills at least tripled over what they paid last year.
“So the first reaction was this can't be right and then I started seeing where the increases were," Alyssa Ripple, a Richland County homeowner said.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing when she received her most recent Richland County property tax notice in the mail.
“Previously, for 2022 we paid about $2,500, and this year before the change were estimated at about $14,000," Ripple said.
She's not the only one with a big bill.
Abigail Pearce opened her property tax bill and saw numbers that were way more than she expected.
“And it said boom you owe $12,000 I was so nervous," she said.
“I got online and on Facebook and it said well in the top make sure it says legal residence yes, mine said legal residence no," she said.
At the Richland County Administrative building, there were many more like Pearce and Ripple with the same issue.
Richland county auditor, Paul Brawley says the box in the top right corner of your property tax bill is key to figuring out how much you'll have to pay.
“I always tell the public that they should look at when they receive their tax bill is look up in the right-hand corner of that tax bill. If it has yes there, it means you are actually getting a legal residence. And if it means no that means you’re not getting you’re legal residence and your tax bill is going to be generally three times higher than it should be," Brawley said.
Lee Roberts learned this the hard way a few years ago.
“They were assessed as a secondary or investment property and then. So that was at least twice as much as my normal tax bill was," Roberts said.
In order to avoid this issue, homeowners must put an application into the county declaring their home address that's on the bill as their primary place of living.
“So it’s very important again if you have a deed change any type of deed change, or if you just purchased your home and you purchased last year or either this year and you did not apply for that legal status your tax bill is going to be higher than it should be," Brawley said.
The deadline to apply for legal residency in Richland County is January 16th. If you already paid your tax bill for the higher amount, Richland County officials say they will issue a refund once the tax amount is corrected.