COMMUNICATI0N llI - Soec. Meetine January 8.

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January 4, 2013 President Gene Sharkey

Board of Aldermen City of Ansonia 253 Main Sheet

Ansoni+ Csnnecticut 06401

Re:

Tax Collectorts Office

Dear President Sharkey

flie Finance Board of thc Board of Aldermen met 0n Thursday, December 20, The subeommittee passod a rnotion to have the full Board of Aldermen at the January 8, 2012 meeting to sonsider and review the recommendations found in Mr. Stanley J. Gorzelany's Final Repott and Status dated December 4,2012. A copy of the report is enclosed with th.is letter. 20i2.
Than1c you

for yout allention to this matlcr.

ri,^}'
Chairrnan

4e-"-,-"**"-A''-'L Edward Adamowski

Verv trulv Yours.

Enclosure

Cify of Ansonia
Final Report and Status
Decemb er

4,2012

StanleyJ. Gorzelany, C.C.M.C., Acting Tax Collector

Cify of Ansonia
Final Report and Status
Decemb er

4,2012

StanleyJ. Gorzelany, C.C.M.C., Acting Tax Collector

City ofAnsonia Tax Office Policies and Procedures Final Report

December

4,2012

At the September 24 meettngof the Board of Aldermen's Finance Committee, I made a mrmber of recommendations attached herewith. Following is a status update and description of the actions taken fe implement those recommendations. MotorVehicle Taxes
1.

There is currently a strict rule in force, that no one. for any reason will receive a motor vehicle clearance without having made paynent in frrll on all bills in their name. Making partial paynents on an account is insufficient to al1ow for the issuance of a motor vehicle release.

2.

Motor vehicle releases are now being kept secure in the vault during non-offlce hows.
motor vehicle accounts Q0,342)were reported to the Deparhent of Motor Vehicles on Septemb er 11,2012. This includes every account for 15 list years. In the future, '?ut-ons" will be reported to D.M.V. the month after each motor vehicle collection period. (August and February) In this way, anyone becoming delinquent after every installment will be reported to D.M.V.
A11 delinquent

J.

4.

Three "Take-offs" have been done since September, thereby removing accounts paid-in-full from the D.M.V. system. (October 9 - 6561November 5 - 994 and December 3 - 535) Counts include every bill for every list year in the same person's name that had been reported to

D.M.V.
5.

Motor vehicle delinquent notices were sent in October on all accounts for 2010 and 2011 and Tax Collector demands were also sent for all delinquent motor vehicle accounts from 1997 through 2009. This resulted na97% increase in collections, when comparing October 2011, ($9t,482.62) to October 2012 ($179,894.77). A second motor vehicle delinquent notice wil1be sent in December for the 2010 and 2011 list yea$.

6.

A collection agency @ossi Law Offices, LTD)

has been selected to

induce payment on all motor vehicle accounts from 1997 through 2009. This will eliminate the need for the City to send any further notices for these earlier list years, as that responsibility now falls to Rossi effective December 3.

7.

Payment has been sent ($280) to commence use of the snline Deparbnent of Motor Vehicles information system. Contact and signon information is expected this month. This will provide the Tax Office with access to current license and regishation address information.
on which real estate liens can be filed has been prepared. Both a personal property lien form and release have been created and approved by the City Clerk.

8. g.

A list of motor vehicle accounts

Inshuctions on filing wage gamishments have been included in the Tax OfEce Poiicymanual.

Personal Properfy Taxes

1. 2.

Commencing after collection of the January Personal Properly install:nents, collection efforts will be accelerated as follows:

will be sent for all delinquent accounts in February. Failure to reSpond to the demand wili result in an alias tax warrant being issued to a State Marshall for service. The wa:rant will include jeopardy collection of the October 1,2012 ta:r assessment for entities still in business on that date.
Demands

3.

I recommended to the Finance Committee that the installnent schedule

for Personal Properby ta:<es be accelerated to either collecting the entire amount once per year, as the City does with motor vehicle taxes or once peJ year for all accounts less than a certain dollar amount.

4.

Copies of checks for all personal property payments are now being made and kept on file in the event that bank account information is needed later.

General

1. 2. .

In May 201,3, after the City's collection agency has had the opportunity to work on older motor vehicle accounts, a recommendation will be developed by the Tax Coilector to tansfer accounts to suspense. TammyBlackwell has been appointed Tax Collector; her full time vacancy has been filled, and John Steele, former Depufy Ta:< Collector for the Town of Hamden is working in the part-time position. For the first time, since July, the Tax Office wi1l be fully staffed as of December 14. I have suggested to the Finance Committee that consideration be given to making the part-time position in the Tax Office full time, since many of the recommendations have a labor intensive impact.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Currently

police escort is being used for every deposit.

Files showing delinquent notices sent are now being maintained.

Both'?ut-on"

ar.d

"Take-off'lists

are now being kept.

Ali paylents for Miscellaneous

Fees are now being recorded.

a comprehensive

During the course of my engagement, I developed which includes the following sections:

Tax Office Manual,

"Calendar" - an Annual Tax Office Work Flow Calendar specifically for the Ansonia Ta:r Office and supplemental calendars used by other tax offices.

"Office Policies" for staff use, with instructions on Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearlyprocedures to be followed.
"Statutes" - quick reference indices to all tax related state statutes. (Ail revised and updated state statutes have been downloaded and printed for reference in a separate binder.) "Enforcement" - describes in detail the various tools available to the Tar Collector for the collection of each type of tur. Miscellaneous - includes memos written during the course of my tenure on various tax subjects

Results to Date

In September, a member of the Finance Committee asked how long it might take to see an improvement in motor vehicle collections as a result of the changes we have implemented. I responded, it could be as long as two years to see the full effect from the consistent reporting of delinquent accounts to D.M.V., because of the bi-amual registration cycle. More immediate results have already taken piace as a result of sending delinquent notices in October. Delinquent motor vehicle taxes collected from October through November in 2011 were $125,76I.62 and for the same period this year they were $234,427.t6. Interest collected on delinquent motor vehicle paynents for the sarne periods was $24,384.71 in 20II and $47,7 57 .77 n 2012.
The higher collections resulted in a noticeable decrease in the over-all delinquent motor vehicle balances, since they were first reported to the Finance Committee (Schedule A). In addition, of the 20,342 accounts reported to D.M.V. in early September, in the past 10 weeks 2,185 have been paid-in-full and cleared as of November 30.

Conclusion The charge, when I was hired, was to assist in the selection of a replacement for the previous Tax Collector, supervise tax office operations during the interim and review office procedures with the goal of recommsading improvements. Since I started, the part-time bookkeeper hansferred to a fulltime position !" th" finance deparhnent. After interviews, the Assistant Collector was appointed to the Ta>< Collector's position; therefore, I participated in the interviewing process to filI all tlree positions in the Tax Office.
Rather than focus on prior practices, I concentrated on ways to imFrove tax office operations with the ultimate goal of increasing collections. This canbe accomplished, while strictly adhering to the state statutes governing Tax Offices throughout the state. I found there was room for significant improvement in the results of collection efforts, particulariy in the area of motor vehicle taxes, where the collection rate has been historically low. In September, I told the Finance Committee, even though the real estate levy is approximately 10 times the motor vehicle levy, delinquent motor vehicle taxes exceeded real estate delinquencies on that date. This occurred due to the failure to send delinquent notices and inconsistent reporting to D.M.V

By sending continuous reminders of the increasing amounts owed, due to the monthly addition of statutory interest, the City in effect becomes the "squeaky wheel". Sending
more frequent notices does have cost consequences; however, the taxes and interest reabzedfar outweigh the expense as demonstrated by the October and November figures, where motor vehicle taxes and interest collections increased by $132,000 and the cost of the mailing was $5,700. Through regular reporting of delinquencies to the Departrnent of Motor Vehicles, taxpayers will come to the realization that they will no longer be able to maintain active motor vehicle registrations without palng their taxes. The City also incurs an annual fee to D.M.V. for this service and it should be used to the fullest extent possible.
Schedules for delinquent notices, demands, lien notices and lien filing have been established and are included in the '?olicy Manual." If followed, this will produce higher collection rates over trme. The Crty's collection agency will be able to locate and coilect from ta:rpayers who previously could not be found using the limited resources available to the Tax Office. The results of their efforts will start to be realized in January 2013.

To the Crty's credit, the first step toward improving operations was to recognize there were issues that needed to be addressed. I am grateful for the opportunity to assist the City and am confident that positive results will occur after implementation of the changes recommended. I would like to thank Mayor Della Volpe and his staf{ the Tax Offi.ce staff, the City Attomey and the Finance Deparhrent stafffor their enthusiastic support and cooperation.

Schedule A

City of Ansonia Delinquent Motor Vehicle Balances (Excluding Suspense)

o/ /o

September 21. 2012

999 2000 2001
1

November 30 2012 5,254.04 3,420.16 6,021.42 91 ,138.85 80,588.60 105,053.67 178,859.10 220,461.32 157,808.94 131 ,360.10 127,739.22 238,816.75 482,487,45 1,829,009.62

Chanqe

Chanqe
0.0o/o

2002
2003

2004 2005
2006 2007

2008 2009 2010 2011

5,254.04 3,420.16 6,021.42 91,979.98 81,837 .24 106,868.02 183,515.30 227,900.76 164,637.51 139,713.60 140,981.77 285,736.00 670,898.06 2,108,763.86

(841.13) (1,248.64) (1,814.35) (4,656.20) (7,439.44) (6,828.57) (8,353.50) (13,242.55) (46,919.25) (188,410.61)

0.0% 0.0% 0.9%

15%
1.7%

25%

e col \J.\) /O

4.1% 6.0% e.4% 16.4% 28.1%

13.3%

(279,754.24)

City of Ansoma
Ta:r Office Policies and Procedures Recommendations as of: September 24,2012

MotorVehicle Tu<es
1.

No one receives a motor vehicle clearance unless all tax bilis and penalties for vehicles in their name and owned jointly are paid in full. NO EXCEPTIONS ! Motor vehicle releases should be kept under lock and key after hours and when no one is in the offi.ce.
Reporting "Put-ons" to the Deparhnent of Motor Vehicles should be done after every collection period is complete. (August for regular motor vehicle bills and February for supplemental motor vehicle bills) The motor vehicle file should be "purged" each time '?ut-ons" are reported. The only record D.M.V. has of a'?ut-on" for Ansonia is October 22,20L0.

)
^

4. Motor vehicle "Take-offs" should be reported at the beginning of every month. This will reduce haffi.c in the Tax Office. The last "Take-off'was done on September 1.5,2011.
5.

Motor vehicle delinquent notices should be sent quarterly. Currently, no delinquent notices are sent for motor vehicles and the Ta:r Office has been relying solely on D.M.V. to flag and hold registations for delinquent
accounts.

6.

Consideration should be given tb using a Collection Agency for all motor vehicle accounts delinquent for over one yeax. The Tax Office has insufficient staffand resources to skip hace thousands of taxpayers who may no longer live in Ansonia. (The part-time clerk took two years to finish skip hacing 1995 - 1998 motor vehicle gand lists.) The City ofAnsonia should commence using the online Departrnent ofMotor Vehicles infonnation system. The cost is approximately $400 per year. This system allows access to both regishation and license fuformation and is invaluable as a resowce for locating registants, since it contains up-to-date address information. Consider establishing apolicy of filing liens against real estate for delinquent motor vehicle tares due over a certain threshold amount.

7.

9.

Consider wage ganrishments for delinquent taxpayers where place of work can be determined.

Personal Properfy Taxes

1.

In general, the Tax Office must take personal properfy taxes.

more aggressive posture to collecting

2.

Cunently two delinquent notices ate sent each year. Affer two plus years of delinquency, accounts are turned over to the state Marshall. The first delinquent notice should be sent as soon as processing is complete for each collection period. (September) For accounts slill rrnpaid a demand should be sent in October that includes jeopardy collection of the July, January and foliowing year's ta:res if the account is still in business on October 1. l[ unpaid, the account should be turned over to the state Mdrshall in November.
Consideration shouldbe givento acceleratingthe instailment schedule for collection of personal property ta:<es. @ither once per year in July, or once per yeff for all accounts less than
Copies of all checks received from personal property accounts should be kept on file for banking information purposes.

3.

4.

General

1.

The policy of moving accounts to suspense should be reviewed and updated. No accounts have been added to suspense since the 2001 Grand List. Per state statute, the Tax Collector is obligated to recommend accounts for suspense on
an annual basis.

Upon the appoinfuent of a new Tan Collector, the Tax Office should have direct access to lockbox files tansmitted by Webster Bank. Currently the IT Director downloads the files and then hansmits them to the Tax Office. Direct access would allow for faster updating of ta:rpayer accounts.
J.

Apolice escort should

be used for every deposit taken to Webster Bank. Deposits should be made at least twice per week during non-collection periods and daily during collection periods (July & January).

4.

The Tax Office should maintain lists of delinquent notices sent. Currently notices are sent without any listings being printed. To determine if and when a notice was sent, accounts have to be checked individualiy.

5.

Lists of both "Put-ons" and "Take-offs" should be kept on file to respond to taxpayer inquiries/concerns about when accounts were reported or cliared.

Ail payr.ents for "Miscellaneous Fees" should be recorded and deposited to the Tax Collector's Account. @ees for printouts where no receipt is requested
are kept and used to pay

off miscellaneous small balances.)