Tech issues delay tax bills
Gila County officials don’t expect problems for agencies depending on revenue
Technical problems caused about 40,000 Gila County property owners to receive their tax bills a month and a half later than other Arizona taxpayers, but county officials say the delay should not create major cash-flow problems for agen- cies relying on the revenue.
Complications installing a new tax system at the Gila County Treasurer’s Office led to the delay, which affects municipal governments and school districts that rely on the county Treasurer’s Office to essentially act as their banker.
The annual statutory deadline for taxpayers to pay their taxes is Nov. 1. Gila County Treasurer Debora Savage has changed this year’s deadline to Dec. 20, saying she has authority under Arizona statutes to “immediately correct” errors made by her office.
Gila County is east of Maricopa County and encompasses the communities of Payson, Globe and Miami.
Gila County in 2010 signed a contract with Colorado-based Tyler Technologies Inc. for computerized financial services. The tax-bill generating portion of the service was added to the contract earlier this year, Savage said.
She blamed the Gila County
Board of Supervisors for not approving the tax-bill service when she expected. She said the service was supposed to be in effect by July 1, when the new fiscal year began. But it was delayed, pushing back installation of necessary software for processing and sending the bills.
“There isn’t a thing that could’ve been done on my end that would’ve sped it up,” Savage said. “I only know about collecting taxes and paying the bills. I’m not used to having to deal with programming and IT stuff.”
The bills were finally mailed out this month.
“I’m taking the heat,” Savage said. “My staff’s taking the heat, which is bad.”
Gila County Supervisor Michael Pastor said the board approved the tax-bill service in time, and that there was no delay involved in the board’s decision. The board unanimously approved the service and “understood there would be a few glitches,” he said.
Tax bills have been mailed out late for three years in a row due to technical and communication issues, Pastor said. The board recently met with Savage, expressing concern about the delays and seeking a working session or management meetings to find a permanent fix.
“We don’t want this to go on anymore,” Pastor said. “That’s basically what the board wanted to express to the treasurer. We’re getting a lot of feedback from the constituency: Why is this happening and what are we going to do about it?”
Gila County Supervisor Tommie Martin said she was glad to see tax bills go out this month.
The Treasurer’s Office increased credit lines for municipal governments and school districts during the delay. Those entities rely on the tax collections to fund their operations.
The county schools superintendent, treasurer and school districts have been discussing potential impacts on school districts, which use the Treasurer’s Office as a bank, said Chuck Essigs, director of governmental relations for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials.
The Treasurer’s Office ensured school districts that the office would help them if there were issues with cash flows or interest accruals because of the delay, which was helpful to school districts, he said.
“It’s certainly not the best thing in the world that it would happen,” Essigs said. “That’s where their revenues get deposited, that’s where their expenditures are made, out of the county Treasurer’s Office. They basically are the financial institutions for school districts.”
Uncertainties surrounding when the tax bills would be mailed out hurt Miami, especially because the town has a small cash reserve, said Miami Town Manager Jerry Barnes.
“We were happy to see them (tax bills) go out in November, and Miami is dependent on those taxes,” Barnes said.
Arizona Tax Research Association President Kevin McCarthy characterized the delays as growing pains for counties as they develop tax systems independent of the Arizona Department of Revenue. Counties began opting out of a state-run system for the past decade, and have faced challenges setting up their own — especially in rural counties, he said.
Most homeowners should not feel an impact, especially if their tax bill gets paid through their mortgage company, McCarthy said. But the concern lies with various jurisdictions that rely on Gila County to collect property taxes on their behalf, he said.
Jim Hippel, a Gila County property owner, has expressed his frustrations with the tax-bill delays in a letter published in the Payson newspaper. In an interview, Hippel said he was concerned about the impacts the delay would have on other jurisdictions in the county.
“They were dragging their feet changing over their computer system, for whatever reason,” Hippel said. “It affects the financing for not only school districts, but all the public entities.”