1 ORANGE COUNTY TAX COLLECTOR SCOTT RANDOLPH CRC

1 ORANGE COUNTY TAX COLLECTOR SCOTT RANDOLPH CRC Presentation, June 23, 2015 www. OCTax. Col. com

2 What does the Tax Collector do? Three Areas of Concentration Property Taxes (2013 Tax Roll) � Real Property Tax Collection (99. 55% of all parcels collected) � Tangible Property Tax Collection (98. 91% of all accounts collected) $139, 589, 659 Local Business Tax Receipt (2014) � � $1, 472, 817, 411 72, 115 Business Licenses $3, 935, 263. 11 Fees Collected State DMV (Driver Licenses, Tag & Title) (2014) � � 1, 011, 138 Tag Renewals 340, 773 Driver Licenses 215, 796 Title Transfers 20, 358 Passed Road Tests

Transaction In Fiscal Year 2013/14 3 In Person Transactions – 1, 163, 416 � � � Mail Transactions – 624, 024 � � � � A total of 2, 138, 424 transactions in the last fiscal year! Tag Renewals: 196, 149 Titles: 35, 194 Property Taxes: 178, 819 Property Taxes (through Mortgage Co. ’s): 180, 909 Business Tax Receipts: 32, 953 Online Transactions – 323, 374 � Tag Renewals: 547, 461 Driver’s Licenses: 330, 730 Titles: 184, 273 Property Taxes: 67, 400 Business Tax Receipts: 33, 352 Tag Renewals: 283, 638 Property Taxes: 30, 467 Business Tax Receipts: 9, 269 Plus 331, 837 Phone Calls Answered! Misc. – (fishing licenses, birth certificates, handicap permits, etc. ) – 27, 610

Modernizing Operations 4 Tag Renewals by Fiscal Year 625, 000 525, 000 61% 58% 607, 941 53% 578, 856 In-Person On-Line Mail 50% 547, 461 532, 810 425, 000 325, 000 28% 211, 788 125, 000 23% 317, 516 229, 630 176, 948 190, 635 18% 19% 2012 282, 161 31% 2013 196, 149 19% 2014 197, 810 19% 2015 -75, 000 Over the past three years, we have increased web transactions by 50%!

Modernizing Operations 5 Redesigned website in October 2013. Bounce rate went from more than 40% down to less than 8%. Effective Marketing of On-line Convenience. Renewal notice inserts. On-line advertising. Tag Express! People can renew on-line and have their tag renewal waiting for them at the office. Only Tax Collector in state. Our in-house IT department was able to develop this technology because of their dedicated expertise with DHSMV databases and networking.

Goals and Obstacles 6 Tag Renewal Kiosks Send renewal notices by email. State law continues to allow numerous entities to put holds on tag renewals without integration of payment. State DMV running a 30 year old database and controls the data.

Tax Collector as Consumer Watchdog Predatory and Misleading Websites Orange County Tax Collector’s Office has taken the lead in fighting websites that mislead public into paying predatory fee. Example: ETags Direct is a website operating out of Ft. Lauderdale (Broward County with an appointed tax collector) that adds fees that more than doubles cost of tag registration. Thanks to our efforts the Attorney General’s Office is investigating the website. Letters to appointed Broward County tax collector resulted in no

Tax Collector as Consumer Watchdog Dangerous Scams Identity Theft Financial Fraud Tax Fraud

Federal Real ID Act of 2005 9 Beginning 2010, Florida began requiring all Driver Licenses to be Real ID compliant Process requires each of the following documents: � Original Birth Certificate (or equivalent) � Proof of Social Security Number � 2 Proofs of Address Every person with a photo ID has to come into the office between 2010 and 2017 for

Driver Licenses Transactions by Calendar Year 10 400, 000 340, 773 350, 000 294, 449 300, 000 250, 000 200, 000 357, 000 185, 732 201, 444 150, 000 100, 000 50, 000 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 (Proj. ) 87% increase in Driver License transactions from 2011 -2015

Road Test Transactions by Year 11 35000 32, 000 30000 25000 20, 358 20000 15, 615 15000 10000 5000 0 29 2011 1, 698 2012 2013 2014 2015 (Proj. )

Meeting the Challenges 12 Added 25 new front line employees—more than half are bi-lingual. Opened our newest office at Dean Rd. & University Blvd. Opened a new office on Sand Lake Rd. that provides south Orange County with driving test services for the first time

Meeting the Challenges 13 Expanded Appointments Average Wait Time for Appointments is less than 5 minutes! Control Your Day—Qless is at 4 out of 7 offices! First in the state with this technology.

14 Oh, yeah, we do Property Taxes, too…

An Advocate for Taxpayers 15 Protecting Non-Profits and Churches In Jan. 2013, more than 60 churches were at risk of losing their property because of unpaid non-ad valorem assessments. Our staff educated the churches about their tax obligations. All churches were saved from immediate risk and we continue to work with them to bring all current. My office has advocated to the legislature the need for local government authority to decide whether to exclude non-profits and churches from some or all non-ad valorem assessments.

An Advocate for Taxpayers 16 Protecting Taxpayers from Taxing Authority Mistakes Keeping Back Assessments Off Tax Bills. More outreach before taxes go delinquent.

Problem Solver for Local Govt’s. 17 Cleaning Up the Tax Rolls More than 3, 000 parcels with county-held tax certificates. More than $2, 500, 000 owed in back taxes. Parcels sitting in limbo not going to good use. Through our efforts, we collected more than $1, 250, 000 before tax deed sale. Orange County is moving through the outstanding certificates. Either someone will bid at tax deed sale or the land will be available for purchase through County. Likely that an appointed or charter tax collector would not have pressured Orange County (or even given the authority) to apply for tax deed. Remember, that money is owed to many other entities besides the county.

Other Property Tax Reforms 18 Implemented Single Simultaneous Bidder rule to allow local bidders to get involved in tax certificate auctions. Make disbursements at any time needed by taxing authority. Aggressive pursuant of unpaid tangible property taxes owed. Tax Collectors are given wide discretion in pursuing, settling and creating payment plans for unpaid tangible property taxes. With a 99% collection rate, we are one of the leaders in the state in tangible property tax collections.

19 Where does our Budget Come From? Statutory fees to ensure the collection of Property Taxes in Orange County for the 2012 Tax Roll was around $24 million. We returned more than $18 million to Orange County at the end of our 2012/13 fiscal year in “unused fees” Thus, we did for $6 million what Florida Statutes allotted $24 million. This is 0. 38% of total taxes collected.

$50. 00 $0. 00 Hernando Orange Sarasota Lake Gadsden Bay Pasco Palm Beach Clay Brevard Okeechobee Seminole Indian River Pinellas Santa Rosa Hillsborough Escambia Holmes Flagler Columbia St. Lucie Baker St. Johns Desoto Washington Alachua Suwannee Polk Manatee Levy Osceola Leon Lee Highlands Hardee Jackson Bradford Union Citrus Putnam Okaloosa Charlotte Martin Jefferson Collier Hamilton Nassau Hendry Walton Liberty Monroe Taylor Maintaining Efficiency Through Effectiveness $60. 00 Personal Services & Operating Expenses Budget Per Capita (FY 2013/14) $40. 00 $30. 00 $20. 00 $10. 00 Average ($27. 07) 38% Below the Average of other Tax Collectors Median ($25. 54) 34% Below the Median of other Tax Collectors Source: Florida Department of Revenue

$60. 00 $50. 00 $0. 00 Hernando Gadsden Orange Lake Seminole Bay Sarasota Clay Hillsborough Brevard Okeechobee Pinellas Polk Indian River Pasco Santa Rosa Escambia Flagler Alachua Columbia Desoto Suwannee St. Lucie Leon Palm Beach Washington Levy Highlands Holmes St. Johns Lee Baker Manatee Osceola Jackson Hardee Union Bradford Putnam Citrus Okaloosa Martin Charlotte Jefferson Collier Hamilton Nassau Hendry Walton Liberty Monroe Taylor Maintaining Efficiency Through Effectiveness 21 Personal Services & Operating Expenses Budget Per Capita FY 2014/15 $40. 00 $30. 00 $20. 00 $10. 00 36% Below the Average of other Tax Collectors 42% Below the Median of other Tax Collectors

22 The Dangers of eliminating the oc tax collector’s office… Threat of Large Increase of Costs to Orange County Citizens… Coupled with Less Services • In the 3 counties with appointed Tax Collectors, the county commission has privatized the auto tag/title offices. • These private companies are allowed to tack on additional fees set by the county commission that go to the profit of the company—not the benefit of the county in unused fees or to offset other tax collection costs. • At the same time, there are fewer offices per capita in these counties and long wait times. • In Miami/Dade, the Tax Collector’s office isn’t open every day of the week and their budget was cut 25% in 2012 alone.

Effect of Privatizing Additional Costs to Orange County Citizens Tag/Title 23 Broward Volusia Miami/Dade Transactions Issuance Tag/Regis. $3. 00 $2. 19 $5. 00 837743 Title 12. 00 9. 83 18. 00 303614 Lien Application 3. 00 2. 00 18. 00 227711 Lien Notice 2. 50 2. 00 5. 00 227711 Temp. Tags 3. 00 2. 19 5. 00 83774 Verification 2. 50 2. 00 4. 00 303614 Parking Permit 2. 00 3. 00 19872 Fast Title 20. 00 5. 11 10. 00 30361 VIN Verification 2. 50 2. 00 8. 00 303614 $9, 825, 369 $7, 322, 837 $19, 316, 578 TOTAL COST Using the transaction totals from Orange County in 2012 (some would have multiple fees to one typical transaction), these are the additional costs that Orange County citizens would pay in fees to a privatized tag/title

24 The Dangers of eliminating the oc tax collector’s office… Loss of Financial Checks and Balances; Internal Controls and Increase in Fraud Potential. • Disbursements to Orange County go to the Comptroller’s Office. The Comptroller then handles all disbursements for the County. • Basic financial auditing would never recommend having the same employees/managers oversee the collection of money as well as the disbursement of money. • Moving the collection of taxes under the Comptroller would not save money, and instead, most likely increase the cost of collection and disbursement as more personnel and technology firewalls would have to be put in place. • Moving the collection of taxes under a County department would not save money and now you would have one county department controlling the collection process and efficiency for 63 taxing authorities.

25 The Dangers of eliminating the oc tax collector’s office… Loss of Financial Checks and Balances; Internal Controls and Increase in Fraud Potential. An independently elected Tax Collector… • • • Provides the financial check and balance for the interests of 63 taxing authorities and revenue from other services; Provides better and more efficient internal controls for the collection of nearly $1. 6 billion in property taxes for 63 taxing authorities (plus hundreds of millions from our other services), and Reduces the likelihood of fraud.

26 The Dangers of eliminating the oc tax collector’s office… Loss of Property Tax Revenue to Taxing Authorities Other Than the County. • ONLY 37% of all property taxes the OCTC collects is for the direct benefit of Orange County Government. • $589, 168, 651 of $1, 575, 090327 collected in FY 2011/12. • Putting an Orange County department in legal control of all property tax collection for the other 62 taxing authorities and Orange County Public Schools would make them subservient to Orange County.

The Dangers of eliminating the oc tax collector’s office… 27 Loss of Property Tax Revenue to Taxing Authorities Other Than the County. Orange County would have the legal authority to… • Reduce property taxes in bankruptcy cases when other taxing authorities opposed the action because they would lose millions in tax revenue. • Negotiate to settle back property taxes for less than what is owed, even when other taxing authorities oppose the move because they lose millions in tax revenue. • EXAMPLE: When Winn Dixie field bankruptcy, Broward County (with appointed tax collector) settled for pennies on the dollar while other counties got their full payments. • Reduce or refuse to collect tangible property taxes. The Tax Collector is given wide discretion in collecting this tax.

The Dangers of eliminating the oc tax collector’s office… 28 The Legislature recognizes these potential dangers and continues to put a great emphasis on the Independence of the Tax Collector’s office and duties. 197. 603 Declaration of legislative findings and intent. – The Legislature finds that the state has a strong interest in ensuring due process and public confidence in a uniform, fair, efficient and accountable collection of property taxes by county tax collectors. Therefore, tax collections shall be supervised b the Department of Revenue pursuant to s. 195. 002(1). The Legislature intends that the property tax collection authorized by this chapter under s. 9(a), Art. VII of the State Constitution be free from the influence or the appearance of influence of the local governments that levy property taxes and receive property taxes revenues. Revised as late as the 2001 legislative session.

29 All the dangers with no benefits… The Task Force focused on the following areas… 1. Finance Departments 2. Personnel Costs 3. Leasing/Operations Costs 4. IT Costs

All the dangers with no benefits… 30 Finance Departments • Cannot simply combine employee duties under Comptroller because there would be no protections against fraud and basic auditing standards would state that having same employees both collect and disburse such large, complicated monies is not a good practice. • The Florida Constitution prohibits placing pieces of a constitutional office under another office. It requires that ALL the duties be placed under that office. • If moving into an Orange County department, Orange County would have to hire at least the same number of personnel at same costs. • Under either scenario, costs would most likely increase because of the need for additional IT costs and separation of duties for personnel.

31 All the dangers with no benefits… Personnel Costs • The Tax Collector’s salary ranges are actually lower than Orange County’s. • Our fringe benefits are same as Orange County, so no savings there. • No data presented to Task Force showing that moving OCTC under Orange County would present opportunity to eliminate positions.

Cost Savings Already Instituted Under Current Elected Tax Collector 32 Positions Eliminates Director of Operations Assistant Tax Collector Executive Assistant to TC Accounting Administrator Benefits Coordinator Base Salary $ 103, 001. 60 $ 144, 892. 80 $ 80, 121. 60 $ 102, 627. 20 $ 71, 385. 60 Total Benefits / Ins $ 22, 225. 46 $ 35, 529. 91 $ 19, 287. 61 $ 27, 791. 04 $ 13, 961. 33 Total $ 125, 227. 06 $ 180, 422. 71 $ 99, 409. 21 $ 130, 418. 24 $ 85, 346. 93 $ 620, 824. 15 Leases Apopka Division St Base Rent $ 163, 126. 54 $ 227, 672. 74 Total Utilities $ 17, 433. 82 $ 31, 752. 95 Misc $ 7, 553. 90 n/a $ 447, 539. 95 Operational Savings Time. Force IT Contract Negotiations Total Grand Total Savings PER YEAR Initial Cost $ 12, 850. 00 Reduced Cost $ 13, 881. 66 $ 14, 913. 32 $ 441, 158. 72 $ 456, 072. 04 $ 1, 524, 436. 14

33 Cost Savings Already Instituted Under Current Elected Tax Collector Positions Eliminated • Since Jan. 2013, the Orange County Tax Collector’s office has eliminated positions to streamline operations and save tax dollars • The most recent elimination was of the Director of Operations, this eliminated a $125, 227. 06 salaried position • The total amount of yearly savings from cutting positions has grown to $620, 824. 15 Lease Consolidation • The Orange County Tax Collector’s office has consolidated offices to save tax dollars • The Division St office lease will not be re-signed • The field services and support services departments will be relocated and will save $447, 539. 95 in lease and office expenses Operational Savings • Since entering office, Tax Collector Randolph has implement many operational savings • By implementing new time clock technology and renegotiating IT contracts, $456, 072. 04 has been saved annually

All the dangers with no benefits… Costs Leasing/Operations 34 Orange County Tax Collector Space Review Involves multiple departments of budgeting, construction approval, planning and oversight, as well as lease compliance oversight. OCTC has streamlined who oversees and approves all planning, acquisition and occupancy with logistics carried out by fewer than three staff members. RESULT: Additional staff and multiple department involvement. Smaller staff with single department involvement. Funding BCC approval of funding for Tenant Improvements. Elected OCTC strategically approves planning, leasing and any tenant improvements. RESULT: Potential delay and slow process to get on agenda. Politics become Only one person with less political maneuvering for involved. single member districts getting funding. Property Works through a Leasing Realtor Service. Searches Independence of office allow direct contact with property owners. Orange County does not pay the LRS a direct commission, but the ultimate Landlord certainly does and it is assumed those costs are incorporated in the Tenant's lease rate. Savings on commissions, fees and markups on service rendered by Landlord. Timing Multiple steps, departments and layers to finalize lease. Fewer steps to finalize lease. RESULT Multiple steps extend time and market conditions may change. OCTC can react quickly on any opportunity to maximize rent cost savings or customer service improvements. RESULT

All the dangers with no benefits… 35 Leasing/Operations Costs Orange County Admin Bldg. Orange County TC Janitorial 1. 28 Utilities 1. 81 1. 03 2. 34 As the numbers show, it’s tough to compare different office functions: • The County’s janitorial rate is higher because it contracts for services that include a wide range of facilities as compared to the same type of facility for the Tax Collector. • The Tag Agencies’ utility costs are higher because: • Higher density of energy-hogging computers and printers; • Nearly 1, 000 people come through the doors. The average human being produces 640 BTUs of heat per hour, so we have to air condition for an extra 640, 000 BTUs every year just for the heat produced by our customers. • We deal with different utility companies, some with higher rates;

All the dangers with no benefits… 36 IT Efficiency • Orange County Tax Collector’s IT costs are already significantly lower than those of appointed tax collectors. Tax Dollars Collected Per Dollar Spent on IT 6, 000 5, 000 4, 000 3, 000 2, 000 1, 000 Miami Dade Broward County Pinellas County Volusia County Brevard County Orange County

37 Charter appointed/elected vs. constitutional The Same Dangers Exist Whether Charter Appointed or Charter Elected 1. Large Increase of Cost to Citizens. 2. Loss of Financial Checks & Balances; Internal Controls and Increase in Fraud Potential. 3. Loss of Property Tax Revenue to Taxing Authorities Other Than the County. 4. Unused Fee and Budget Manipulation. With Zero Benefits to Orange County Taxpayers…