Treasurer`s Citizen Report [MSPUB.EXE]

A Report to Our Citizens • For Fiscal Year 2010
Rick Davis, Vanderburgh County Treasurer
About the Treasurer’s Office
What do we do?
Table of Contents
About the Office
1
Accomplishments
2
Your Money
3
What’s Next
4
Mission Statement
Provide the most reliable, efficient, & cost effective service to the citizens, agencies, and local
governments of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Core Values
The Vanderburgh County Treasurer’s Office is a constitutionally-elected office charged with the responsibility of being the
custodian of all public funds garnered by the county and other
local government units. The Treasurer’s office receipts, disburses, invests, and accounts for the funds of these entities. The
County Treasurer collects local taxes including real estate taxes,
personal property taxes, mobile home taxes, and state assessed
taxes. Miscellaneous taxes collected through the county treasurer are inheritance taxes, innkeepers’ taxes, and gross income
taxes. The County Treasurer maintains the County’s bank accounts and investments, pursues collections of delinquent taxes,
and issues permits to move mobile homes or to transfer titles to
mobile homes. The County Treasurer also holds an annual tax
sale of real estate.
How are we set up?
The Treasurer is a constitutional officer elected by the citizens of Vanderburgh County for a term of four years. The Treasurer, along with the Auditor and Assessor, act as the finance
team of the county. The Assessor assigns value to property; the
Auditor verifies the data and calculates and applies the tax rates;
and the Treasurer bills and collects property taxes. These offices
are interdependent upon each other and must work together
with state agencies, the County Commissioners, and County
Council, to best serve the taxpayers. The Auditor and Treasurer
act as a check and balance over the county’s finances.
How do we operate?
•
Integrity
•
Efficiency
•
Transparency
•
Accountability
The office is organized into two variable sections: Tax Collection and Accounting, which serves to segregate duties for effective internal controls. The Tax Collection side is responsible
for the collection of property taxes. The Accounting side is responsible for the banking, account reconciliation, general receipts, and investments. However, even with the segregation of
duties we work together during heavy tax collections to best
serve the public. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
Integrity • Efficiency • Transparency • Accountability
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A Report to Our Citizens • For Fiscal Year 2010
Accomplishments
We’ve Ramped Up Productivity!
Above: The sealed property tax
bills roll out of the folder/inserter
machine.
Below: The folder/inserter
machine at the Vanderburgh
County Treasurer’s Office.
Above: 2nd Deputy Misty Hart feeds tax bills
into the folder/inserter as part of the Treasurer’s office “in-house” property tax bill process.
Since Treasurer Rick Davis took office at the beginning of
2009, several measures have been taken to increase productivity. The first step in this process has been the upgrade and implementation of a state-of-the-art tax billing
software, MVPTax by Manatron®. As a result, this new software allowed the office to explore more avenues to increase productivity. We were able to stop outsourcing the
property tax-billing process and perform this function on
our own. This undertaking by the Treasurer’s Office has
resulted in significant cost savings to taxpayers and has also
increased productivity in other offices, such as the Sheriff’s
Office, the Auditor’s office, Voter Registration and the Assessor’s office.
Greater Ease to Pay!
We have made it a point to make paying your property taxes as easy
as possible. First, the implementation of MVPTax Software by
Manatron® in 2009 has aided in making office transactions much
quicker. For instance, lines have been much smaller during our collection periods. Secondly, in collaboration with the Sheet Metal
Worker’s Local 20 and other local trade unions, we installed a drop
box for our citizens so they may conveniently make payments anytime, day or night, including allowing taxpayers the ability to pay
their property tax bills until midnight on spring and fall collection
day deadlines. Third, we upgraded the internet payment methods
to include an E-check option with transaction costs at a low $3. Finally, we upgraded the in-house credit/debit payment options to
include all types of credit/debit companies. In the past, we only
offered Discover payments and now we accept MasterCard, Visa,
Discover, and American Express. Payment Plan options are available to those in need as well!
The drop box located in front of the Civic Center has given taxpayers an
easy and convenient option to avoid lines at security and in the Treasurer’s Office during collection times.
Improved Transparency & Security of Investments!
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With the recent downturn in the economy, the Vanderburgh
County Treasurer’s Office has made significant strides to allow
the public the opportunity to view all investments made on
behalf of the public. We’ve revamped our website to include
investments dating back to the year 2000 until the present.
Also, we’ve made a serious effort to diversify our investment
opportunities as a measure of financial security in a turbulent
investment climate. Going beyond the traditional investment
strategies of the past, the Vanderburgh County Treasurer’s office has branched out and invested public funds in the TrustINdiana government investment pool; started a diverse portfolio
with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney; and worked to increase the
length of time traditional CD and Repo investments are made.
Integrity • Efficiency • Transparency • Accountability
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A Report to Our Citizens • For Fiscal Year 2010
Your Money
Where did your money go in 2010?
Darmstadt
Funds
$146,346.55
State Funds
$850.89
Vanderburgh
County
$50,331,775.56
Levee Authority
$1,721,929.50
City of
Evansville
$60,182,222.02
Local Schools
$39,428,558.77
Airport
$915,000.12
Museums
$145,627.72
The County Treasurer collects
property taxes from the taxpayers
and then distributes the revenue to all
of the various taxing authorities. We
print and mail statements based on
the data we receive from the County
Assessor and the County Auditor. The
pie chart to the left illustrates the
amount of tax monies collected in
2010. The Treasurer also collects
“general receipts” of State shared
revenues, gross income tax, innkeepers tax, inheritance taxes, and more.
The level of activity associated with
the collection of these revenues is
illustrated in the chart on this page
entitled “Our Production.”
Libraries
$12,132,758.20
Townships
$3,623,517.70
Economy’s Role in Future Collections
Our Production
2009
2010
Total Parcels Billed
99,257
100,540
Property Tax Payments from
Mortgage accounts
43,700
48,430
In Office Property Tax Payments
29,014
38,249
Property Tax Payments by Lockbox
File
72,556
74,868
5,388
5,393
249,915
267,480
Property Tax Payments by Web/
ACH
Total
Our Costs
Treasurer Office Costs*
2010
2009
2008
Salaries and Benefits**
$560,702
$552,698
$539,733
Supplies
4,906
8,943
10,965
Printing
***68,032
53,713
61,807
Services
934
2,178
23,081
$634,574
$617,532
$635,586
Total
* Current Expense (General Fund)
** Salaries and Benefits are Budgeted Figures for FY 2010
*** Increase in Printing Costs are due to equipment purchased for in-house billing
† Economic data is from the 2010 Property Tax Report for Vanderburgh County per the Legislative Services Agency
Integrity • Efficiency • Transparency • Accountability
In Vanderburgh County the recession has affected the economy, although not as hard as most Indiana
counties. The recession created
“upward pressure” on property tax
bills in several ways. The unemployment rate rose from 4.4% in December 2007 to 8.1% in July 2009. Job
losses and income declines contributed to a 2.1% drop in local income
tax revenue.
The recession also reduced new
construction, so less new property
was added to assessment roles. The
recession also reduced some property
values, which affected assessed values through annual trending. Lower
assessed values may result in higher
tax rates for local taxpayers. In those
instances where taxpayers’ bills are
limited by the tax caps (see p. 4), the
higher rates may result in higher circuit breaker credits, causing increased
revenue losses for local governments.
In Vanderburgh County, the gross
assessed value of business real and
personal property increased 1.7% in
2010. Most other assessment categories decreased, and total gross assessed value in Vanderburgh County
rose 0.1%. This was lower than the
state average increase of 0.6%.†
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A Report to Our Citizens • For Fiscal Year 2010
What’s Next - Challenges & Opportunities
Tax Cap Credits and the Effect on our County
Tax cap credits in Vanderburgh County in 2010 amounted to 3.7% of the
total property tax levy. The statewide average was 6.3%. The smaller percentage loss in the county was partly due to lower-than-average tax rates in
Vanderburgh County. Most residential property located in Evansville that
was subject to the 2% tax cap* received credits because the tax rate was
over $2 per $100 of Net Assessed Value (NAV) in the entire city except for
the newly annexed areas (which are being phased in incrementally). No commercial or industrial properties in the 3% tax cap* category qualified for
credits, because all Vanderburgh County tax rates were under $3 per $100 of
NAV. Vanderburgh County tax rates were not high enough for a large percentage of homesteads to qualify for credits in the 1% tax cap* category.
Vanderburgh County, the City of Evansville, and the EvansvilleVanderburgh School Corporation saw the largest revenue losses from the tax
caps in 2010. As a percentage of their total levies, Metro Evansville and Pigeon Township lost the most, at 4.9% and 4.8% of their billable budgets, respectively. Losses were greatest for units that overlapped Metro Evansville,
because its tax districts had the highest tax rates.
†Tax Cap data is from the 2010 Property Tax Report for Vanderburgh County per the Legislative Services Agency.
2010 Circuit Breaker Credits by Cap Category
Vanderburgh County Total $6,239,348
Tax Cap Rate
1%
2%
3%
Elderly
Credit Amount
$988,880
$5,227,679
$0
$22,789
Percentage of Total
County Credit
15.9%
83.8%
0%
0.4%
2011 Goals
In 2011, we have established
the following goals in accordance with our mission statement:
• Submit a budget that reflects the efficiencies
we’ve gained through our
“in-house” bill printing
project.
• Transition to having as
close to a “paperless” inter-office operation as
possible.
• Maximize our investments
in a challenging economy.
• Further diversifying our
investments to increase
safety of public funds.
• Compile a comprehensive
procedure manual for the
entire office to standardize procedures and develop consistency in our
operations within the new
tax billing software,
MVPTax.
††Tax Cap data is from the 2010 Property Tax Report for Vanderburgh County per the Legislative Services Agency.
Office of the Vanderburgh County Treasurer
This is our first year of publishing a “Report
to Our Citizens” in an attempt to give you
some basic financial information about the
Vanderburgh County Treasurer’s Office. All
too often, government reports are confusing
and so large that the average person does
not have the time in their busy schedule to
read them. We hope this report gives you a good understanding about the tax monies we collect and distribute to
various local governments. Please let me know if you
have any suggestions on how we can improve this report.
My contact information is on the right of this page.
Sincerely,
Rick A. Davis
Vanderburgh County Treasurer
Integrity • Efficiency • Transparency • Accountability
Visit the Treasurer Website:
• Review tax information about
your parcel
• Make a payment on your parcel
• And much more….
www.VanderburghTreasurer.org
Vanderburgh County Treasurer
Rm 210 Civic Center Admin. Bldg
1 NW Martin Luther King Blvd
Evansville, IN 47708
Phone: (812) 435-5248
Fax: (812) 435-5341
E-mail:
[email protected]
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