Chriss W. Street, Treasurer-Tax Collector ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT CONSTITUENT SERVICE

OFFICE OF THE TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR

HALL OF FINANCE & RECORDS 12 CIVIC CENTER PLAZA, SUITE G76

POST OFFICE BOX 4515 SANTA ANA, CA 92701

www.ttc.ocgov.com

CHRISS W. STREET TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR

BRETT R. BARBRE CHIEF ASSISTANT TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR

PAUL C. GORMAN, C.P.A., CTP ASSISTANT TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR TREASURY

WALTER DANIELS ASSISTANT TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR TAX COLLECTION

ROBIN RUSSELL ASSISTANT TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR ADMINISTRATION

CLARISSA ADRIANO-CERES ASSISTANT TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Title & Escrow Company Interface March 1, 2007

9:00 a.m. Welcome & Introductions Hon. Chriss W. Street Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector

Presentations Office of the Treasurer-Tax Collector (TTC) 1. Consolidation of Services within the TTC Brett R. Barbre, Chief Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector 2. Updated Refund Process Walter Daniels, Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector – Tax Collection 3. Updated Payment Methods Kim Hansen, Cash Manager 4. Data Delivery Enhancements Clarissa Adriano-Ceres, Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector – IT Office of the Assessor – Hon. Webster Guillory, Orange County Assessor Office of the Clerk of the Board – Darlene Bloom, Clerk of the Board Office of the Auditor-Controller – Frank Davies Office of the Clerk Recorder – Judith Hoshor

Questions, Answers & Round Table Discussion

Chriss W. Street, Treasurer-Tax Collector

ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX

COLLECTOR

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT CONSTITUENT SERVICE

Tax Collection RecapFiscal Year End 2005-

06# of Bills

Sent OutTax Charge

Fiscal Year Collections %

Collected

SECURED 814,058 $3,820,183,838

$3,756,437,832

98.33%

SUPPLEMENTAL

172,636 $336,023,538

$282,585,562 84.10%

UNSECURED 179,695 $198,733,450

$193,045579 97.14%

BACK TAXES 95,482 $123,025,572

$50,806,819 41.30%

1,261,871

$4,477,966,398

$4,288,875,792

95.77%

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTMethods of Tax Collections Jul. ’06 – Dec. 06

Type of PaymentDollar

AmountPerce

nt

Mail Payments$1,615,715,

759 72.23

EFT Payments$255,926,38

4 11.44

WEB Credit Cards $61,735,247 2.76

IVR Credit Cards $16,569,702 0.74

OTC Credit Cards $4,045,188 0.18

ACH (e-check)$217,780,33

2 9.74

Title Company Wires $31,275,392 1.4

Receivable Wires $33,979,542 1.52

June 2006 - December 2006

$1,615,715,759

$16,569,702.00

$4,045,188

$217,780,332 $31,275,392

$33,979,542

$61,735,247

$255,926,384

Mail Payments

EFT Payments

WEB Credit Cards

IVR Credit Cards

OTC Credit Cards

ACH (e-check)

Title Company Wires

Receivable Wires

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTINVESTING

TRACS Financial Research

Public Interest 2006 Top Investment Returns

FUND NAME 2006

1. Connecticut Short Term Investment 5.12%

2. Florida SBA LGIP 5.08%

3. Orange County Investment Pool 5.05%

4. Orange County Education Investment Pool

5.03%

5. Montana Short Term Investment Pool 5.01%

2004 - Pay Taxes Online

2005 - Supplemental Tax Calculators; Pay Multiple Online & Simultaneously

2006 - Email Reminder Subscription; Prior Year Refund Interest; Escheatment List

46,901

390,505

59,958

422,820

70,172

540,059

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

450000

500000

550000

2004 2005 2006

Unique Visitors

Document Views

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTConstituent Service over the

INTERNET

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTConstituent Service over the

TELEPHONE

% AnsweredCalls

ReceivedCalls

Dropped

Dec. 06

99.00% 16,822 1%

Dec. 05

98.00% 17,674 2%

Dec. 04

97.00% 18,869 3%

• Avg. wait time of 13 seconds to speak with an agent in Dec. ’06. A decrease of over 50% from Dec. ’05.

• 14 Fully staffed phone lines everyday. 24 lines staffed during busiest time.

• Consolidated multiple telephone numbers into one central tax help line.

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT

Delinquent Unsecured Tax Bills in Bankruptcy

• Hired PT Bankruptcy Lawyer• Employing a new system which prompts filings for

Proof of Claims

$ Collected YTD % Increase

Jul. 1, 2005 – Jan. 31, 2006

$1,267,000 +919%

Jul. 1, 2005 – Jan. 31, 2006

$124,000 ---


AB589 Grant Money Bipartisan Bill effective 2002 giving grants to

qualifying counties for the improvement of tax collections. Hired additional full time staff in necessary departments. Hired “Skip Chasers” so tax collectors are now calling

good telephone numbers and reaching good addresses.

Delinquent Assessments

Collected % Increase

Feb. 26, 2006 25,179 + 25%Feb. 26, 2005 20,118 ---


AB589 Grant Money

Supplemental Back Taxes

$ CollectedIncrease OverPrevious Year

2006 $5,611,171 +36%2005 $4,117,515 +48%2004 $1,976,407 ---

Chriss W. StreetTreasurer-Tax

Collector Office of the Treasurer-Tax Collector

County of OrangeHall of Finance & Records

12 Civic Center Plaza, Suite G76Post Office Box 4515Santa Ana, CA 92701www.ttc.ocgov.com

For Additional Information ContactSusan Czech

Director of External AffairsEmail: [email protected]

Phone: 714.834.5279


COLLECTOR

Brett R. Barbre, Chief Assistant Treasurer - Tax Collector

CONSOLIDATED SERVICES

EFFECTIVE & EFFICENT

Consolidated Services at

TTC


COLLECTOR

Walter DanielsAssistant Treasurer – Tax Collector, Tax Collection

Rogelia Martinez,Chief Deputy Tax Collector

TAX REFUND PROCESS OVERVIEW

Annual Refund Stats Fiscal Year 2005-2006

Roll Type

Refunds ProcessedSecured & Supplemental49,847Unsecured 5,813Prior Year/Redemption 1,963Total 57,627

Reasons for Refunds

Duplicate/Double Payments•Taxpayers

•Title Companies•Mortgage Companies

Over Payments

•Penalty Overpayments•Transposition ErrorsMismatched/Short

Payments•Payments received late•Transposition Errors

Other Inflows toRefund Stream

Assessment Appeal Board Decisions (AAB)

Assessment Roll Corrections (ARC)

Negative Supplemental Tax Bills

Refund Processing Timeline

3 – 4 Weeks

Mismatched/Short Payments

AAB and ARC refunds under $2,500Automatically refunded by the system provided there was no change of assessee within that fiscal year.

Negative Supplemental Assessments

6 – 7 Weeks

Duplicate and Overpayments

AAB and ARC greater than $2,500Due to the fact that the “who paid” information must be determined before issuing these refunds.

Methods of Refunds

Refunds are processed and approved through the Assessment Tax System (ATS) and the checks are issued by the Auditor-Controller.

Occasionally Manual/Trust Fund refunds are processed for those items that cannot be processed through the ATS and the completed refund forms are forwarded to the Auditor-Controller for issue of checks.

Refunds for payments received by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), Credit Cards, ACH Debit (e-check) and wires are processed in normal manner through the ATS and the checks are issued by the Auditor-Controller. Credit card payments that are accidentally paid twice for the same parcel on the same day (duplicated) may be reversed by using reversal method. This will credit the taxpayers’ credit card account and the Tax Collector will not see it on the daily report or the bank statement.

Issues of Security & Controlin the refund process

Only selected employees are given access to the refund releasing program.

The Auditor-Controller runs the refund job every Friday. The refund checks are mailed the following Monday.

Next Monday the final report is printed. This report is verified by the Supervisors and approved by the Managers prior to being delivered to the Auditor-Controller’s office for final processing.

Once the refunds are released to the system, a weekly approval report is produced the following Monday. (The system will not release refunds for those payments made within the past 14 working days. This is a built-in safeguard against ‘bad checks’).

Additional Refund Information

For any information concerning refunds, please contact:

(714) 834-3411

THE END

Thank you for your Attention


COLLECTOR

Kim Hansen,Cash Manager

METHODS OF PAYMENT

REMITTANCE PROCESSING ENHANCEMENTS

Upgrading existing machines with new software

Installing a new 3rd machine

Character recognition has improved

Fewer items sent for data correction

Very reliable system with same day processing


Methods of Payment

TITLE AND ESCROW COMPANY PAYMENTS - HISTORY

Prior to electronic payments, payments were made by check

Checks didn’t include a payment stub

TTC staff made a payment stub for each payment

In 2005, TTC requested title and escrow companies to pay electronically

Today, most companies are paying via wire transfer


Methods of Payment

TITLE AND ESCROW COMPANY PAYMENTS - EFT

Back office processing is a labor intensive manual process

There is no standard format within wires for parcel/bill number information

Payment information and actual payment often are not received simultaneously

Staff time for research and refunding has increased significantly


Methods of Payment

Dollar Amount04/05 - 05/06

$14,763,900

$110,356,744

$0

$20,000,000

$40,000,000

$60,000,000

$80,000,000

$100,000,000

$120,000,000

Number of Wires04/05 - 05/06

334

6,666

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

TITLE AND ESCROW COMPANY PAYMENTS - EFT

•Cost of a wire is much higher than ACH or check ($6.00)

•The bank fees have increased dramatically due to high volume of wires

•Processing time for EFT payments takes up to 2 weeks

•Overall, EFT payments are not working!

•A change is necessary


Methods of Payment

PAYMENT OPTIONS FOR ALL TAXPAYERS

TTC has many payment options:CashCheckCredit Card via telephoneCredit Card via webACH Debit via webACH CreditWire Transfer


Methods of Payment

PAYMENT OPTIONS FOR TITLE AND ESCROW COMPANIES

Currently, title and escrow companies have these options:

Check

ACH Debit via web

ACH Credit

Wire Transfer


Methods of Payment

PAYMENTS

The Treasurer-Tax Collector strongly recommends that title and escrow companies no longer use ACH Credit or Wire Transfer payments.

Today, our preferred payment methods are:CheckACH Debit via web


Methods of Payment

CHECK PAYMENTS

TTC will revert back to creating payment stubs for each payment

Guaranteed same day processing with next day visibility

If title and escrow companies include the reference or escrow number on the check, it will be included on any refund!


Methods of Payment

ACH DEBIT VIA WEB

Safety and security controls available today mitigate most of the risk previously associated with ACH debit

Dealing with a known partner

Debit filters on your bank account

TTC website can process single or multiple payments

Payment window stays open/active for 8 hours


Methods of Payment

FUTURE PAYMENT OPTIONS

TTC will continue to work with title and escrow companies to develop efficiencies for both sides

Electronic payments continue to grow and develop

ACH Credit could be utilized with some standardization of addenda information


Methods of Payment

PAYMENT METHODS

Talk to your treasury/finance group

Let TTC help educate them

Questions??


Methods of Payment

Clarissa Adriano-CeresAssistant Treasurer-Tax Collector, Information Tech.


COLLECTOR

DATA DELIVERY ENHANCEMENTS

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTEnhancements to Data Delivery

Methods

Before

Data files are copied to tapes

Tapes are physically delivered or picked up

Takes days before data gets to destination

After

Data files will be made readily available through the County FTP server

Data accessed anywhere through your browser

Data is retrievable anytime

Chriss W. StreetTreasurer-Tax Collector

Thank you for your time and the opportunity to serve you going forth.

We look forward to your questions and feedback at the conclusion of today’s presentation.

Don’t forget to drop your business card in the drop box in the foyer if you want to receive periodic email updates as to future enhancements at the TTC.

Documents

Chriss W. Street, Treasurer-Tax Collector ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT CONSTITUENT SERVICE