Revenue Office Organizational Chart

Transcription

1 April 2013

2 Revenue Office Organizational Chart Kathy Damicis Acting Tax Collector 10 years with Finance Department Julie Ruisi Assistant Tax Collector / Accounts Receivable 4 ½years with Tax Department Adele Cozzolino Account Clerk II 47 years with Tax Department Gilda Mendonca Account Clerk II 6 years with Tax Department

3 Tax Receivables for July 2012 February 2013

4 Tax Bills and the Tax Receivables for fiscal year. Cost of Printing and Mailing Tax Bills (RE, PP, MV) is approximately $25,000 per year Cost of Printing and Mailing Delinquent Notices approximately $1.00 a piece

5 Beach Pass Revenue Summer 2012 Sold at the tax office mid April through Labor Day Regular Pass $60 / Senior Pass $35 Purchaser must be a Westerly Tax Payer, Registration must be in the Taxpayers name

6 Water & Sewer Assessment Bills Water Water bills mailed annually 15,000, twice a year (30,000) Annual cost of printing and mailing of bills $12,500 Fiscal year 2013 Water Use Receivable $3,870,717 Sewer Assessment Sewer Assessment bills mailed annually 86 Fiscal year 2013 Sewer Assessment Receivable $25,000

7 Customer Service Identification badges are worn by all Tax Office Staff. Tax payers can easily spot a town employee. Business cards are given to tax payers making it easy for them to contact the individual that has assisted them. They also can be included in mailing to tax payers An area is now available to taxpayers so they can discuss their questions and concerns in a confidential setting The Tax Office has a standardized greeting on each of their phones. Hours of operation are given and 2 options. It is office policy to return calls within 24 hours. Average Daily calls 80; During collections 200 The number of customers that come in to the Revenue Office counter on an average day, 125. During Collection Quarters, 300. Beach Season, 500 Taxinfo@westerly.org was implemented in December, Originally answered after 3pm on the same day Majority of s come from Attorneys, Banks, Mortgage and Title companies s received; December 109, January 184 (tax payment quarter), February 156

8 Customer Service Survey Monkey, Online Web Survey. Gives the general populations the opportunity to share their thoughts and suggestions. This allows us to implement changes, make improvements, showing that we value their opinions. Examples of questions/answers: 1. Was the person you dealt with polite and helpful? 92% responded, Yes 2. Did you have to wait in line? 88% said they have waited up to 15 minutes in line. 3. Would you like to have Tax Bills ed to you? 30% responded, Yes 4. Have you paid your taxes with a credit card through Official Payments? 25%, Yes 5. Have you ever reviewed Westerly s financial information on the Town s website? 60%, Yes

9 Customer Service Conveniences provided to Taxpayers ACH, Automatic Quarterly Bank Debit 24 Drop Box at the Westerly Town Hall On Line Credit Card payments Can taxpayers bills and summaries Taxpayers mail beach pass requirements with self addressed stamped envelope May 2012, installed ATM machine. Average transactions a month 60

10 Revenue Office Technology Lockbox service, contracted with The Washington Trust, for Water payments Payments mailed to PO Box where they are process and deposited. Reports are sent electronically to the Revenue Office daily. Began July 2012 Number Payments collected: 5,791 Total revenue received $1,505,260. Reduces the mail, allowing staff time with the Taxpayers Security measures taken by the Revenue Office Pin number and Jurisdiction codes are required in order to access on line credit card payments

11 Focus on Collection Efforts Prior Year's Uncollected Taxes as of June 30, 2012 $3,843,334 ANRG American National Recovery Group, collection agency Began collecting January 2012 on Delinquent Taxes (RP, PP and MV) Collected through February 2013, $255,533. Payment Plans Service offered to taxpayers to avoid tax sale 8 new agreements have been drawn up since November 2012 Tax Refund Offset Program RI Department of Revenue new program allows the Town to collect delinquent taxes with RI Income Tax Refund Looking to implement in the next fiscal year Tax Sale Rhode Island general law mandates every municipality must hold atax sale Tax sale planned late Fall 2013

12 Focus on Collection Efforts Fiscal Year 2012 and older, past due:

13 Looking to the Future Lockbox Service Expansion P.O. Box that bills are mailed to and processed. Beginning in July Stores images checks and envelopes electronically Integrates with Munis, our financial software. Offers timely deposit of checks Bill counter Increases the speed of counting large amounts of bills Remote Deposit Machine Electronically processes checks for deposit in a fast and efficient manner. Eliminates manual calculations Offers timely deposit of checks Miscellaneous Currently any balance on a tax account, under $1.00, is written off, looking to increase to $5.00; South Kingston uses this amount Penalty abatement to include motor vehicles

14 Looking to the Future Offering Taxpayers the opportunity to provide their address for billings and all notices Review and improve the Revenue Offices Website making it more user friendly and convenient to the tax payers Summer 2013 Revenue Office would be open at night, one day a week Google Analytics is a service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about our website's traffic and traffic sources. Measures information for the Revenue Office s website, ie: how many people log on, what they are viewing, how long they re on the site Address labels will be provided in the July mailing for taxpayers to use Training Vision Government Solutions (Tax Software) training for all office staff on a monthly basis Munis provides user groups