A Trip Back to the Schaefer Years With Refund Checks

About 28,000 Maryland taxpayers will receive their state refund on checks signed by Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, who is no longer the state's tax collector.

The checks should carry the signature of the current comptroller, Peter Franchot, whose information technology staff made a boo-boo during routine maintenance on the agency's computer servers.

Franchot spokesman Joe Shapiro said the mistake was caught quickly, and the bank on which the checks were drawn has been notified to honor them. The mistake was first reported by the Baltimore Sun.

"Anyone with the checks can cash or deposit them without any problems," Shapiro said. "We've made sure this won't happen again."