2022-05 Department of Finance Real Property Tax Division Revenue Cycle Management

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Chapter 19, Section 10 states, “The corporation counsel or the prosecuting attorney may proceed to enforce payment of delinquent taxes by any means provided by law. Any legal proceeding may be instituted in the name of the director or the director’s deputy….” Cause and Condition Government-owned parcels create unique obstacles. RPT does not exercise all options provided in Chapter 19. Effect Historically, government lessees benefit through the County’s limited option to enforce collection. Recommendation 4 Civil Remedies We recommend RPT develop procedures to obtain and collect through civil judgment. Write-Off Overview Where RPT has determined that accounts are uncollectible, it is not updating its parcels through enforcement of section 10 to prepare and delete as part of a special record. Chapter 19 Section 9 states, “The department may from time to time prepare lists of all taxes delinquent which in its judgment are uncollectible. Uncollectible(s) shall be entered in a special record and be deleted …. and the department shall thereupon be released from any further accountability.” RPT has not routinely prepared and submitted lists of these parcels, as evidenced by lava- inundated tax debts that remain part of parcels from as old as 1976. Cause and Condition RPT does not sufficiently enforce Chapter 19 Section 10. Effect RPT keeps uncollectible accounts on record for years. Recommendation 5 Write-Offs We recommend that RPT identify and prepare a record of debts that it determines to be uncollectible and write those debts off annually to ensure the accuracy of tax rolls. Examples include: • Longstanding, lava-inundated parcels that have effectively lost all use case. • Longstanding, defunct business tax debts where the owner on record is the government. • Longstanding, deceased owners, where address and next of kin are unknown. 34 Page