For the second time in two weeks, Richmond officials announced they made a mistake when trying to send money-related mail to residents.

On Wednesday, the city said it had sent out 226 debt setoff letters to incorrect addresses. Those notices typically inform recipients money is being taken out of their state tax refund in order to pay an outstanding debt owed to the city.

The error occurred on March 28, according to the city, and was caused by a mistake in the mailroom overseen by the city’s Department of Information Technology.

Last week, the city announced it had accidentally sent out 6,200 erroneous tax rebate checks with incorrect names listed. In that release, the city emphasized that no taxpayer information had been compromised.

The erroneous debt letters contained more sensitive information. If the incorrect recipient were to open the letter sent to them by mistake, they would see the intended recipient’s name, address, claim number and the amount of money the city believes they owe.

“I take protecting privacy incredibly seriously — whether it be digital privacy or the privacy of mailed documents,” Charles Todd, Director of the Department of Information Technology, said in the city’s news release. “I apologize, and I want Richmonders to know we will review our processes and make the necessary adjustments to prevent this from happening again.” 

The city said mailroom employees would be “retrained on the processes and protocols to make sure mail is delivered to the proper recipient.”

People impacted by the error can expect to receive more information from the city, officials said.

Anyone with questions about the issue was asked to call RVA311 at 3-1-1 or 804-646-7000.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org