Governor Carcieri acknowledged yesterday that he and his wife, Suzanne, owe more than $12,000 in back taxes on one of their three vacation properties.

The Carcieris own two condominiums in the same coastal complex in Stuart, Fla., along with a $1.98-million waterfront “summer home” in North Kingstown, and their main residence in East Greenwich.

However, the Carcieris hadn’t paid the last two years of property taxes on one of the condominiums and had been issued a tax lien. The governor’s spokeswoman said that, due to a clerical error in the tax collector’s office, Carcieri didn’t know about the unpaid taxes until contacted by the media yesterday –– and that he was sending his payment.

The city of Stuart, which is in the southeast portion of Florida and the seat of Martin County, was described recently in The New York Times as a place where second homes sell for a half-million dollars, and for millions along the waterfront.

The governor and his wife are listed as the owners of two condominiums in Stuart, at 4540 N.E. Sandpebble Trace, on Hutchinson Island; one condominium is assessed at $320,600, the other at $295,900, according to the Martin County tax collector’s office.

While the taxes are paid up to date on the $320,600 condominium, the Carcieris haven’t paid taxes on the other since 2005, according to the tax collector’s office. The Carcieris now owe $7,502 for the 2006 property taxes and $5,155 for the 2007 taxes, which hadn’t been paid as of yesterday afternoon, confirmed Dot Sharp, of the tax collector’s office.

Carcieri’s spokeswoman Amy Kempe said yesterday that the matter was “a mere oversight.” She said the governor hadn’t gotten the tax bill for one of the Florida condominiums because the Martin County tax collector’s office had been sending the bills to Carcieri’s former address in East Greenwich. The tax bills for the other condominium have been paid because the bills have gone to his current residence in East Greenwich, she said. “I really don’t think this is a story,” she said.

Kempe said the governor uses a “bill paying service” and hadn’t known that he had a tax lien. She said Carcieri sent payment by FedEx yesterday. “He said I’m actually grateful someone brought it to my attention,” Kempe said.

The matter came to light yesterday in a piece written by Patrick Crowley, the assistant executive director of the National Education Association’s Rhode Island unit, and posted on the political blog www.rifuture.org.

After Republican presidential candidate John McCain had trouble answering a question about how many houses he owned, Crowley wrote that he asked the same question about Republican Governor Carcieri. Crowley wrote that Kempe directed him to the financial statement that Carcieri had filed with the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.

Carcieri listed the Florida property on his financial statement, but did not specify that there is more than one unit.

The governor also listed what he termed a “summer home,” a five-bedroom beachfront property assessed at $1.98 million, in North Kingstown’s Plum Beach neighborhood. That house is just a 21-minute ride away from the governor’s main residence, assessed at $1.4 million, in East Greenwich.

—With reports from staff writer Thomas Morgan

amilkovi@projo.com