Baltimore officials now say they've determined that the city -- not the state -- is to blame for the wrong property-tax bills sent to nearly 8,000 homeowners. (Both have a hand in the property-tax process because the state provides the assessment data the city uses to collect.)

More in this story, but here are a few key details:

--Most of the bills, about 6,100, wrongly claimed that the homeowners had not paid all they owed for the last tax year

--The city says a task force is working on ways to prevent this sort of problem from happening again

--The Bureau of Revenue Collections says it doesn't believe many residents paid these bills, but it promises to find out who did and promptly refund the money. (If you're not the wait-and-see type, the city says to call 410-396-3987.)

The city expects that all accounts will be corrected next week. To check yours, go to http://cityservices.baltimorecity.gov/realproperty.