Tax collector change called a win
Riverside official says citizen complaints prompted the decision.
City of Riverside officials say switching to a new agency to handle income tax collection is a win for the city and taxpayers, but the group that previously had the contract says services will diminish.
Riverside recently decided to contract with the City of Cleveland Central Collection Agency to administer its taxes. Riverside currently files with the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA), and it has for nearly 25 years, said City Manager Mark Carpenter.
That organization claims there will be gaps in service when Riverside pulls out of RITA.
Carpenter said the city has a long transition process ahead — the change won’t be final until Jan. 1, 2020 — and during the transition he hopes to address issues RITA says will be created by the switch.
Mayor Bill Flaute said city council heard complaints from residents about RITA, prompting the search for another agency.
“We heard complaints about their forms. We heard RITA was slow to get back with people,”
Flaute said. “Residents just weren’t getting the answers they needed from RITA.”
Mark Taranto, manager of member services at RITA, said Cleveland-based CCA has restrictions that won’t allow some Riverside residents to file electronically.
For instance, taxpayers must file a paper return if they are farmers, self-employed or rent out property. A full list of restrictions is available on CCA’s website.
Taranto said as many as 2,500 Riverside taxpayers wouldn’t be able to file electronically because of those restrictions.
“The city risks confusion and adding another layer of complexity for the taxpayer if they do that,” Taranto said. “Some people maybe haven’t filed a paper return in years.”
CCA also serves Clayton, Germantown, West Milton, New Carlisle and Union Twp. in this area. After Riverside leaves RITA, the only governments from the Miami Valley that the organization will serve are Yellow Springs and Fairborn.
Danielle Wolfe, revenue manager for the city of Fairborn, said RITA has “stellar” customer service. Fairborn joined RITA in 2007.
“I truly like the relationship we’ve built with RITA over the years,” Wolfe said.
The city of Clayton used to work with RITA to file its income taxes, but switched to the city of Vandalia and then CCA in 2016. Kevin Schweitzer, finance director for Clayton, said the city had issues when it used RITA because the agency had no local office.
CCA makes on-site visits and Clayton taxpayers can also go to other municipalities when CCA makes an on-site visit there.
“Both RITA and CCA have their pluses and their minuses,” Schweitzer said. “But we’re not looking to go anywhere else.”
RITA charges a retainer fee for 3% of the city’s income and refunds the city at the end of the year. CCA will charge Riverside 2% of what it collects.
Flaute said he and council also felt RITA wasn’t “aggressive enough” with Riverside residents who weren’t paying taxes or new businesses coming to Riverside.
Nassim Michael Lynch, tax administrator of Cleveland, said Riverside’s switch to CCA offers more information at its disposal to ensure compliance with the city’s tax code.
Lynch said CCA representatives will be in Riverside regularly to help with taxes, especially during the tax filing season. This is something Lynch and Flaute said RITA was not doing on a regular basis.
“I expect the city will notice an improvement,” Lynch said.