EDITORIAL: Sentinel View: A taxing situation

Apr 08, 2012 (The Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- It seems like it should be a simple process. You get your tax bill, you pay your tax bill. We've been doing it since medieval times.

Unfortunately for Carlisle borough residents, it hasn't been that easy lately, and something needs to be done to change that.

Carlisle has operated without a tax collector, an elected official, for the past six years, running the service out of the borough building at 53 W. South St., a building that is handicap-accessible and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

That setup changed this year after Dickinson College student George Hicks Jr., 21, was elected to be the tax collector for the borough. He assumed his duties on Jan. 1 Ever since borough tax bills were mailed out on March 1, residents have made a number of complaints: --It's hard to find Hicks' building.

--His building isn't handicap accessible.

--His phone number is a long distance call.

These complaints have been filed with borough officials, and they were directed directly at Hicks at the Carlisle Town Meeting on March 29.

To Hicks' credit, he showed up at the meeting to address the concerns.

But why are the concerns even present? Having to pay taxes is tough enough, so it should be a simple process, and we offer five suggestions to simplify things: 1. A tax collector's office needs to be ADA accessible. This is a government service, and that means access available to everyone. Everyone pays taxes, so everyone should have access to turn in their dues.

2. Find a way to have a majority of Hicks' office hours in borough hall. This takes borough council and Hicks working together to set up set office hours in the building where borough residents have been paying their taxes for the past few years. Change can be confusing, and this would provide some continuity to the process. It also provides a central location within the borough.

3. Find a better way to communicate this and any changes. The Pa. Tax Collectors Manuel suggests that any changes to the tax collecting process could be communicated when the tax bills are sent out. Hicks has offered some ideas to deal with potential issues -- meeting people outside his building, driving to their homes if an appointment can be made in advance, or even setting up borough office hours. Great suggestions for a short-term fix, but make sure people know these options exist.

4. Bring some local accountability to the tax collector position. Hicks technically has no boss within the borough (by state law, it's actually very difficult to remove a tax collector and it would require state government approval), so no one can tell him how to improve his workflow, or from his standpoint, no one can directly help him. The accountability now lies at the state level. Some form of accountability on a local level should improve the process.

5. Require training for the position. This job currently pays $28,000 a year. The tax collectors manual says training is available but on a voluntary basis. Hicks said the training is only offered in the fall, and he does plan on taking it this fall, but obviously after the tax season. The manual says: "A 2001 act encourages tax collectors to attend training and complete testing to become qualified tax collectors." Wouldn't "requires" be a better choice of words? ___ (c)2012 The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.) Visit The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.) at www.cumberlink.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

[ Back To Contact Center Solutions Homepage's Homepage ]

Related Contact Center Solutions Articles

MetricNet Publishes 4 New Australian Benchmarks for IT Support, Contact Centres
[ Read More ]
05/21/2013

Liverpool Bosch Contact Center Hopes for Threefold Expansion by Year End
[ Read More ]
05/03/2013

Bunchball Unveils Augmented Gamification Tools for Jive Platform
[ Read More ]
04/08/2013

Teleperformance Earns the Multimedia Contact Center Award
[ Read More ]
03/19/2013

Shangri-La Unveils Customer Contact Center in China
[ Read More ]
03/13/2013

B. Braun Uses NextiraOne for UC and Contact Center Support
[ Read More ]
03/12/2013

Contact Centre Australia Generates Job Growth in Wellington, New Zealand
[ Read More ]
03/04/2013

[ View all Contact Center Solutions Articles ]

Contact Center Solutions Glossary of Terms

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

Featured Whitepaper

Microsoft® Lync® in the Contact Center: Integrating with Customer Interaction Center™ to Provide a Barrierâ€free Customer Experience To implement contact center functionality, organizations using Microsoft Lync Server 2010 can follow the unified communications blueprint of open standards interoperability and integrate to a contact center solution of their choice. Customer Interaction Center (CIC) from Interactive Intelligence is a proven best of breed contact center solution that merits consideration ...

Featured Success Story

Interactive Intelligence all-in-one IP communications software suite integrated with Microsoft Lync helps Bentley save $200,000 annually.

Featured Product Demo

Contact Center Solutions Interaction Analyzer™

Interaction Analyzer™
Real-time word and phrase spotting. Alerting. Analytics. Scoring. Coaching. Watch how Interaction Analyzer turns every moment, of every past and present call, into data that lets you deliver an exceptional customer experience.