New Bedford Taxpayers Shocked by Unusually High Property Tax Bill

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — Some New Bedford property owners might have been on the verge of passing out Wednesday morning, but it had nothing to do with the high temperatures.

Rather, it was their astronomically high property tax bill.

Due to an error by the vendor, multiple taxpayers received a shocking bill statement.

A city resident reached out to WBSM Wednesday afternoon to share their experience after receiving a text alert notifying them it was time to pay their quarterly tax bill.

The resident was startled by the amount requested for payment. Instead of the expected quarterly tax amount of around $800, the bill instead was for a whopping $231,113.29.

The resident, who is in the process of selling the home, said they then went into a “full on panic.”

“(It) caused major panic this morning, especially for me being in the middle of a real estate transaction,” they told WBSM.

Get our free mobile app

The resident went to New Bedford City Hall to get to the bottom of it; they said the staff there said they had already received a bunch of calls about it.

“They didn’t fix it manually in person when I went to City Hall, just said ‘they know and they are working on it,’” the resident said.

Their account on the online portal showed a credit for the $231,113.29 by the afternoon.

City spokesperson Jonathan Darling told WBSM the error was on the part of the vendor.

“Due to an error by Invoice Cloud, one of our vendors, several residents received notifications of incorrect tax bill amounts. The treasurer’s office received several calls about it this morning. The error was fixed by mid morning,” he said.