BROOKHAVEN — Lincoln County Tax Assessor/Collector Blake Pickering said a computer glitch has caused some payment issues for a handful of people. He provided additional information on tax exemption requests by Rex Lumber at a supervisors meeting Monday. 

Pickering said for the first time ever, a glitch occurred in the system where people made payments, had a receipt for payment from the Graphite Payment Agency but the money never made it to Lincoln County. He told the board they needed to strike the delinquent taxes and refund a portion of the money to those affected. Not many people were affected by it. 

“Only five people have been affected so far. The company is looking into it,” Pickering said. “There is nothing on our side that can show us whether someone paid or not. Graphite Payments is writing a program to find out if anyone else was impacted.” 

In addition, Rex Lumber and Brookhaven Pellets LLC, owned by Rex, requested exemption from Ad Valorem taxes. The request was approved by supervisors. Pickering explained the exemption is different from the exemptions for warehouses such as Primos Hunting and Walmart. 

“This exemption is for expansion to the plant. It will be for building for Rex Lumber and “Brookhaven Pellets,” Pickering said. “The expansion is both in real estate and personal.”