The story of how we updated our process for Mayor’s Court. Mayor’s Court Process Linda Collins, City of Sharonville lcollins@cityofsharonville.com The story of how we updated our process for Mayor’s Court.

The “old” way – unserved charges 4 years ago: 150 unserved court cases, some 10 years old Court dates were set only if the taxpayer was cited for another offense (i.e. speeding) No personal service for any case, even if within the city Police Department didn’t like serving tax complaints due to a lack of details If a case was in court they required a detailed listing of every phone call, letter & attempt to contact

On the Tax Department side Old charges did not list specifics of why the taxpayer was charged with an offense Numerous “warnings” of possible court charges were sent, only to be withdrawn if one payment was made No consistent contact with taxpayers once court charges were filed Court cases for minimal amounts

How to move forward? Start Talking! Police Dept. Clerk of Court Tax Dept. Prosecutor & Judge

The Goal Decrease the number of backlogged cases Increase the speed for new cases Improve trust between the tax department and the police Collect more money! Decrease delinquent filers

How do we get there? After 2 years of discussions & building relationships: Interested Party Meetings Listen Compromise Agree

In the mean time… We stopped taking cases to court unless absolutely necessary due to the statute of limitations We stopped threatening court action unless it was imminent & filed charges unless the account was paid in full within a specified period. We cleaned up accounts wrote off small amounts past statute started invoicing all past due balances every two months We reviewed the outstanding court cases and dismissed small or uncollectible amounts

What changed for our office? Each tax year is a separate complaint All complaints now list the year, tax due, and penalty & interest separately No cases outside of the legal statutes Set minimum amounts of tax due for court Set minimum number of contacts/notices to taxpayer prior to court We 1st mark an invoice “Final Notice” prior to the legal action letter Agreed to send a certified legal action letter prior to filing charges

In return – 3 big changes! The court agreed to set a court date and send documentation to the taxpayer by regular and certified mail The Police department hand delivers court notices within a specified area The judge views all aspects of a taxpayer’s account in court and we no longer have to account for every letter & phone call

Court Docket – June 15, 2019 Name Account # Court Case: Year Tax P&I Total Failure to Pay 2016 500.00 150.00 650.00 Also owes: 2015 200.00 50.00 250.00 2017 450.00 125.00 575.00 Payment Rec’d 5-20-19 (50.00) Total Due 1425.00 2/20/19 – 1st court date Continued to 3/13/19 to file all years & make payments 3/13/19 No payments have been made since 2010. Taxpayer filed 2015 on 3/12/19; still needs documents for 2017 5-15-19 2018 was filed on time – no balance. Documents provided for 2017. 6-15-19 1st payment on 5-20

How’s it working? We’ve reduced our backlog of cases from 150 to 50! Each step of the new process brings in $$$$ 13.5% of taxpayers have paid their balance due in full in response to the legal action notice In the past 1 ½ years we’ve taken 52 new taxpayers to court. Three non-filers who were taken to court each now owe over $10,000.

What doesn’t work? Many taxpayers refused to sign for the certified court documents & didn’t come to court and The judge was uncomfortable issuing a warrant without proof the taxpayer knew of the court date After some research & quick discussions everyone has agreed we can hire a personal service company to hand deliver court documents & they will give proof to the court of delivery. The cost is added to the court costs, so no additional costs to the tax department or the court

Questions??