County supervisors expected to approve extension of 2020 tax payment deadlines at May 18 meeting

Following last week’s authorization to advertise for a public hearing on adoption of an ordinance delaying imposition of penalties and interest on late payment of certain 2020 taxes, the Warren Count Board of Supervisors will hold that public hearing at tomorrow evening’s meeting on Tuesday, May 18.

Due to the shutdown of a good deal of Information Technology (I.T.) systems including departmental and staff emails following the March discovery that Warren County’s software had been “intruded” upon along with other systems across the nation, some tax bills have been late going out. Consequently, upon passage of the ordinance, no penalties or interest will be accrued on the June county tax payment installment until June 22. Impacted taxes include real estate, personal property, machinery & tools, and vehicle license taxes becoming due June 5.

Tomorrow at 7 p.m. to be precise. The tax deadline extension is the first scheduled public hearing slated for a 7:30 p.m. starting time of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, pictured in open session below. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

The Town of Front Royal did not experience the same software “intrusion”. According to its Finance Department, while town taxes will become due by June 1, no penalties or interest are accrued until June 5.

The County has fallen short of terming the I.T. event a hack due to no evidence of the theft or manipulation of data discovered thus far. Since being identified as part of an unauthorized I.T. event across multiple states, the “intrusion” is being investigated at multiple law enforcement levels, including federal and state, across the nation.