ORANGE COUNTY TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR

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

3. Tax Collection RecapFiscal Year End 2005-06

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

5. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTINVESTING TRACS Financial Research Public Interest 2006 Top Investment Returns

6. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTConstituent Service over theINTERNET • 2004 - Pay Taxes Online • 2005 - Supplemental Tax Calculators; Pay Multiple Online & Simultaneously • 2006 - Email Reminder Subscription; Prior Year Refund Interest; Escheatment List

7. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTConstituent Service over theTELEPHONE • 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.

8. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTDelinquent Unsecured Tax Bills in Bankruptcy • Hired PT Bankruptcy Lawyer • Employing a new system which prompts filings for Proof of Claims

9. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTAB589 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.

10. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENTAB589 Grant Money Supplemental Back Taxes

11. 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 92701 www.ttc.ocgov.com For Additional Information Contact Susan Czech Director of External Affairs Email: sczech@ttc.ocgov.com Phone: 714.834.5279

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

13. EFFECTIVE & EFFICENTConsolidated Services at TTC

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

15. Annual Refund Stats Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Roll Type Refunds Processed Secured & Supplemental 49,847 Unsecured 5,813 Prior Year/Redemption 1,963 Total 57,627

16. 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

17. Other Inflows toRefund Stream Assessment Appeal Board Decisions (AAB) Assessment Roll Corrections (ARC) Negative Supplemental Tax Bills

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Issues of Security & Controlin the refund process Only selected employees are given access to the refund releasing program. 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’). 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. The Auditor-Controller runs the refund job every Friday. The refund checks are mailed the following Monday.

21. Additional Refund Information For any information concerning refunds, please contact: (714) 834-3411 THE END Thank you for your Attention

22. ORANGE COUNTYTREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR METHODS OF PAYMENT Kim Hansen, Cash Manager

23. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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

24. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT 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

25. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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!

32. 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

33. 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

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

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

36. After Data files will be made readily available through the County FTP server Data accessed anywhere through your browser Data is retrievable anytime Before Data files are copied to tapes Tapes are physically delivered or picked up Takes days before data gets to destination EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT Enhancements to Data Delivery Methods

37. Chriss W. Street Treasurer-Tax Collector 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. 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.