Aragon council approves tax software update
The initial $10,000 cost is to be paid back by SPLOST funds.
The City of Aragon will soon be getting a new tax billing system that is going to update the entire process by which officials keep track of property tax payments, but also how resident can pay.
Aragon council members voted unanimously to spend $10,000 out of the city’s Special Assets Account get the city’s tax information moved over to the Harris property tax collection software, who already provides the service of building the tax rolls each year for the city.
They’ll additionally owe Har- ris $1,000 a year for as long as they use the service, which includes the cost the city already incurs for the tax rolls preparation.
Mayor Garry Baldwin explained the city has in the past and through this past property tax year used a giant, color-coded spreadsheet to keep track of who has paid and who is delinquent and owe the city money.
City clerk Christie Langston brought the entire printed out spreadsheet for the city council to see during their work session, which stretched completely across the length of the conference table.
Baldwin said that if Aragon had the amount of residents Rockmart had, the spreadsheet would be at least four times larger.
“This is how things slip through the cracks,” Baldwin said.
By purchasing into the software, the city hopes not only to update the property tax billing system internally, but also externally. Harris would also host a portal for local residents to use credit cards online to pay for taxes instead of having to mail in checks and wait for them to cash out, or to see what their bills have been historically.
Harris will load in the past four years of the city’s property tax bills into the system prior to launch, along with this past years and will take over upcoming property tax bills as well.
Officials also hope it will save the city money.
New finance clerk Adrianna Barton said Aragon has paid out thousands of dollars in the past just to have the tax rolls prepared. In 2016, that bill was $2,031.96, while in 2017 it was slightly less at $1,720.70. This year the city has already paid in $425 to just get an excel spreadsheet established, and hasn’t included the cost of sending out the bills, along with postage and envelopes.
Langston said an entirely different company has been used to send out those bills as well, increasing costs annually.