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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9633 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9633 April 8, 2014 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Page 1 of 2 SUBJECT: HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION AUDIT rmF� The purpose of this Informal Report is to provide background information on an agenda item scheduled for consideration by the Mayor and City Council on April 15th. The Financial Management Services Department is proposing to partner with outside sources to conduct an audit of existing homestead exemptions. This audit is part of staff's effort to identify and recover revenues that are owed to the City, but are currently being uncollected or under-collected. It is important to note that this audit is not changing the structure of homestead exemptions, rather validating the application. The proposed audit will involve a vendor, Tax Management Associates, Inc. (TMA), comparing local homestead exemption data against a nationwide database to identify exemptions that are potentially in place in error, thus reducing property tax revenues. The agreement is structured to be risk-free to the City because the vendor cannot invoice the City for its flat-rate, per-removed- exemption fee until the City has received the associated incremental revenue. Further, the vendor has agreed that the total fees due from the City cannot exceed the total of the incremental revenue received by the City during the year. Using data from its actual experience in other markets, such as counties in South Carolina and Indiana, TMA has prepared City of Fort Worth-specific projections indicating the City may achieve a net gain from the audit in the first year even after fees are taken into account. Greenville County, South Carolina was able to recover almost $2.5 million in additional revenues during the first eighteen months after having TMA perform such an audit. In addition to any such immediate gain, by correcting and removing any current errors, this audit will provide a long-term benefit by helping ensure that going forward the City receives the revenue that it is owed. Because exemptions are administered by the central appraisal districts (CADs) and tax billing and revenue collection are handled by the Tarrant County Tax Assessor/Collector's office, the process of removing exemptions and issuing supplemental tax invoices will involve multiple entities. Staff in Financial Management Services / Treasury Division has had numerous conversations with each entity to ensure a common understanding of the goals, needs, and expectations of everyone involved. Each property owner who will be impacted by this process will receive at least two notices in writing. The first communication will be sent by TMA to notify the taxpayer that there might be an issue with an exemption, to educate the taxpayer on what the law states and allows regarding homestead exemptions, and to provide information on who to contact to ask questions. There will be a second communication to the property owner only if the CAD has reviewed documentation ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9633 April 8, 2014 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Page 2 of 2 SUBJECT: HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION AUDIT rmF� and agreed that the exemption appears to be in error. This communication will state that the CAD intends to remove the exemption and that the property owner has thirty (30) days to protest. If the exemption is eventually removed, the owner will next see a tax bill within 2-6 weeks for the incremental property tax and will have an additional 3-6 weeks to pay before penalties and interest apply. It should be noted that if documentation shows that an exemption has been incorrect for multiple years, the taxpayer could be required to pay additional taxes for a period of up to five years in arrears. If you have any questions, please contact James Mauldin, Assistant Director Financial Management Services, at 817-392-2438. Tom Higgins City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS