Tax commissioner issues report on first 100 days

Porter cites changes ‘to make services more accessible.’

Amid fallout from her proposal to charge cities a special fee for collecting their taxes, Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner Tiffany P. Porter issued a report of strides made during her first 100 days in office.

Porter cited several changes she has made since taking office in January. She has brought in 15 long-term contractors as tax services associates, who continue in their same roles of assisting customers but with a pay increase and eligibility for benefits.

The office reports boost- ing the starting salary for tax service associates “closer to a living wage,” but it did not provide the former or cur- rent pay to The Atlanta Jour- nal-constitution.

The office also reports “recruiting top talent for open positions,” promoting from within the office.

Under Porter’s watch, several of the county’s tag office locations now close at 6 or 7 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. Residents are now able to schedule tag office ap p ointments online, whereas in the past they had to walk in and wait in line.

“Based on constituent feedback during my campaign, I promised to improve the tax commissioner’s office and to make services more accessible,” Porter said in the media release.

The office has reduced operation costs by switching from paper to digital recordkeeping and simplifying a mandatory new homeowner brochure. The brochure was reduced from a booklet to double- and single-sided pages in English and Spanish, saving $7,000 per 25,000 copies in the office’s 2021 budget of $16 million.

Porter’s office reported other steps taken to bet- ter engage with residents, including:

■ 26% increase in property tax calls

■ 171% increase in online property tax payments

■ 73% increase in motor vehicle calls

■ 33% increase in online tag renewals

■ 161% increase in motor vehicle kiosk transactions

■ 47% increase in website visits.

Last mo n th, Porter announced she intends to charge eight Gwinnett cities $2 per parcel in additional fees to handle their property tax collections. Her proposal would reportedly supple- ment her current $141,000 annual salary by more than $110,000, which would make her the highest paid elected county official.

Her proposal was met with pushback from other elected officials.

The Georgia House and Senate passed a bipartisan bill in the session that ended March 31 that would take the power to negotiate municipal tax collection fees out of the tax commissioner’s hands and pass it to county commissioners.

Tiffany P. Porter