Richmond interim CAO: rebate checks misprinted and many delayed; city to reprint after June 16 stale-date

Sabrina Joy Hogg, interim chief administrative officer for Richmond City, told the Organizational Development standing committee that a production error left the wrong payee on roughly 8,300 rebate checks and that the city printed 59,000 checks in all, of which about 23,000 were mailed and roughly 15,000 cashed.

"The math is correct," Hogg said, describing audit work that verified the rebate calculations even as the payee data proved wrong on a subset of checks. She said staff stopped printing when the error was discovered and asked a separate deputy director in finance to audit the process.

The nut of the problem, Hogg said, was twofold: an incorrect payee on about 8,300 printed checks and about 2,000 checks that went to property owners recorded in the 2025 land book rather than the ordinance-required 2024 owner. Of the printed batch, she said staff were able to intercept or hold back about 36,000 checks; roughly 3,100 of the wrong-payee checks were mailed before the error was detected. Hogg told the committee 69 stop-payment requests for refunds have been filed so far.

Committee members pressed for detail and accountability during a lengthy Q&A. Council member Gibson asked Hogg to slow through the numbers; Hogg repeated the key figures and explained the operational choices that led the city to postpone a blanket stop-payment, saying finance worked with banks so valid checks could be honored while the file-level issues were resolved.

Council members repeatedly asked why the process produced these errors and what corrective steps would prevent a recurrence. Hogg said an initial quality-control (QC) process was insufficient because rebates are a relatively infrequent operation for finance; she told the committee the department has since drafted standard operating procedures and expanded QC review to include multiple independent reviewers going forward. Hogg also said she asked the city auditor to take a second look at the finance audit to confirm the process was executed correctly.

Council members pressed about staffing turnover in the revenue and finance teams and whether departures affected institutional knowledge. Hogg declined to discuss personnel matters in detail, calling them personnel issues, but she committed to written follow-up documentation for the council that codifies the numbers and the new SOPs.

Several council members asked practical questions for residents. Hogg said checks become stale after 90 days and that outstanding, uncashed checks will be considered void on June 16; finance plans to reprint and resend remaining valid payments beginning June 17 with a goal of delivering them by June 30. For residents who received a check made out to them and which cleared the bank, Hogg said those payments are valid; residents who received checks not made out to them are instructed to destroy or return them to finance.

Committee members also raised the issue of the bank lockbox used to process payments; Hogg said the city's Wells Fargo lockbox is in Philadelphia and that the lockbox location is a longstanding operational arrangement.

The administration committed to provide the council a written report summarizing the numerical detail (counts mailed, cashed, intercepted, and amounts flagged for refund), the SOP document for the rebate process, and the auditor's second look. Council members asked the city to communicate a public timeline to residents promptly.

Next steps: the administration said it will distribute a written timeline and the newly drafted SOPs to the committee and publish a public update before mid-June so residents know when to expect reissued checks.