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

Tax Collection Recap Fiscal Year End # of Bills Sent OutTax Charge Fiscal Year Collections% Collected SECURED814,058$3,820,183,838$3,756,437, % SUPPLEMENTAL172,636$336,023,538$282,585, % UNSECURED179,695$198,733,450$193, % BACK TAXES95,482$123,025,572$50,806, % 1,261,871$4,477,966,398$4,288,875, %

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Methods of Tax Collections Jul. 06 – Dec. 06 Type of PaymentDollar AmountPercent Mail Payments$1,615,715, EFT Payments$255,926, WEB Credit Cards$61,735, IVR Credit Cards$16,569, OTC Credit Cards$4,045, ACH (e-check)$217,780, Title Company Wires$31,275, Receivable Wires$33,979,

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT INVESTING TRACS Financial Research Public Interest 2006 Top Investment Returns FUND NAME Connecticut Short Term Investment5.12% 2. Florida SBA LGIP5.08% 3. Orange County Investment Pool5.05% 4. Orange County Education Investment Pool5.03% 5. Montana Short Term Investment Pool5.01%

Pay Taxes Online Supplemental Tax Calculators; Pay Multiple Online & Simultaneously Reminder Subscription; Prior Year Refund Interest; Escheatment List EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Constituent Service over the INTERNET

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Constituent Service over the TELEPHONE % Answered Calls Received Calls Dropped Dec %16,8221% Dec %17,6742% Dec %18,8693% Avg. wait time of 13 seconds to speak with an agent in Dec. 06. A decrease of over 50% from Dec 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 $ CollectedYTD % Increase Jul. 1, 2005 – Jan. 31, 2006$1,267, % Jul. 1, 2005 – Jan. 31, 2006$124,000---

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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, , % Feb. 26, ,118---

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT AB589 Grant Money Supplemental Back Taxes $ Collected Increase Over Previous Year 2006$5,611,171+36% 2005$4,117,515+48% 2004$1,976,407---

Chriss W. Street Treasurer-Tax Collector Office of the Treasurer-Tax Collector County of Orange Hall of Finance & Records 12 Civic Center Plaza, Suite G76 Post Office Box 4515 Santa Ana, CA For Additional Information Contact Susan Czech Director of External Affairs Phone:

ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR Brett R. Barbre, Chief Assistant Treasurer - Tax Collector CONSOLIDATED SERVICES

EFFECTIVE & EFFICENT Consolidated Services at TTC

ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR Walter Daniels Assistant Treasurer – Tax Collector, Tax Collection Rogelia Martinez, Chief Deputy Tax Collector TAX REFUND PROCESS OVERVIEW

Annual Refund Stats Fiscal Year Roll Type Refunds Processed Secured & Supplemental49,847 Unsecured 5,813 Prior Year/Redemption 1,963 Total 57,627

Reasons for Refunds Duplicate/Double Payments Taxpayers Title Companies Mortgage Companies Over Payments Penalty Overpayments Transposition Errors Mismatched/Short Payments Payments received late Transposition Errors

Other Inflows to Refund 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 $2,500 Automatically 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 $2,500 Due 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 & Control in 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-Controllers 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) THE END Thank you for your Attention

ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR Kim Hansen, Cash Manager METHODS OF PAYMENT

REMITTANCE PROCESSING ENHANCEMENTS Upgrading existing machines with new software Installing a new 3 rd machine Character recognition has improved Fewer items sent for data correction Very reliable system with same day processing EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Methods of Payment

TITLE AND ESCROW COMPANY PAYMENTS - HISTORY Prior to electronic payments, payments were made by check Checks didnt 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 EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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 EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Methods of Payment

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 EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Methods of Payment

PAYMENT OPTIONS FOR ALL TAXPAYERS TTC has many payment options: Cash Check Credit Card via telephone Credit Card via web ACH Debit via web ACH Credit Wire Transfer EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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 EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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: Check ACH Debit via web EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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! EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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 EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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 EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Methods of Payment

PAYMENT METHODS Talk to your treasury/finance group Let TTC help educate them Questions?? EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Methods of Payment

Clarissa Adriano-Ceres Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector, Information Tech. ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR DATA DELIVERY ENHANCEMENTS

EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Enhancements 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. Street Treasurer-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 todays presentation. Dont forget to drop your business card in the drop box in the foyer if you want to receive periodic updates as to future enhancements at the TTC.