MURFREESBORO – In early August, the Hertford County Board of Commissioners approved a measure to reimburse the town of Murfreesboro for uncollected ad valorem taxes. The Murfreesboro Town Council approved a resolution here Aug. 28 to accept that money.

As previously reported by the News Herald, the county collects taxes on behalf of the town of Murfreesboro, but a coding error in the county tax office led to uncollected taxes for properties within the Howard Hunter Villa neighborhood from 2012 to 2016.

“For many years, property owners in that residential area received bills for county taxes, but not for town taxes, due to the coding error,” said County Manager Loria Williams when she explained the situation to the Hertford County Commissioners. “During that time, property owners were receiving Town of Murfreesboro services such as water, sewer, trash collection, fire, police, etc.”

The error was discovered and corrected in 2017, but the town had not received the money owed until now.

The Murfreesboro Town Council unanimously approved receiving the “Tax Collection Administration Grant” in the amount of $12,967.60.

A family residing in the Howard Hunter Villa neighborhood spoke briefly in public comment at the meeting about the need for more lighting in the area. They hoped the addition of streetlights would reduce the number of break-ins they had recently dealt with.

Mayor Hal Thomas said they planned to use the reimbursement money first to erect streetlights in that neighborhood, though he cautioned the work would not happen overnight.