Taxing Matters
By : Cheryl E . Johnson , PCC Galveston
Co . Tax Assessor Collector cheryl . E . Johnson @ co . galveston . tx . us
A Whirlwind of a Year !
Another whirlwind fiscal year has neared its end in the County Tax Office which means a new beginning and a new tax year . Annually , I report to my team accomplishments from the prior and goals for the new fiscal year . Through 14 years , the accomplishments have been many and frankly , this last year has been pretty amazing !
Nearly every property owner , motor vehicle or boat owner and many businesses will benefit from our newest initiatives . A brand new partnership with League City ( to collect its Public Improvement District — PID fees ), will impact only 2,000 this year but will open the door to new partnerships with other local governments in the future .
And then , there are the hundreds of thousands of dollars in unclaimed refunds on their way to “ found ” former property owners and another $ 67,000 posted online just last week just waiting to be claimed ! Everyone is familiar with the Comptroller ’ s annual push to return billions in unclaimed property to Texans . On a much smaller scale are the more than 800 property tax refund checks that were returned to the County Tax Office over the last 14 years by USPS . A valiant effort over the summer by the Property Tax Department team to locate the owners of these funds is nearing completion and , best of all , a SOP ( standard operating procedure ) implemented to make this a monthly task . Visit www . galcotax . com and click on the green Unclaimed Tax Refunds button . The list is sorted by city ( or area ) then name . Staking a claim locally is much easier than from the State so check it out every month !
After just one year , the partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife both restored staffing in the County Tax Office to
pre-Hurricane Ike levels and increased revenue to the county far above the cost of the additional half time position . Just think – a new government program that was not only selffunded but profitable ! Spread the word – there are 15,000 boat owners in Galveston County and we served less than 20 % in the first year , thus the potential is great ! When we perform the service , local fees are earned that help reduce our overhead ( read ‘ lowering your tax burden ).
Behind the scenes improvements ( achieving our goal to streamline operations through implementation of new technologies ) included remote capture restored six hours / day to over-the-counter-service without increasing staffing AND automation of vehicle registration renewal processing also freed up the branch team to focus on providing superior customer services .
Motor vehicle and water vessel dealerships will soon receive notification of a new online system for their prepayment of escrowed property taxes . Our hope with this system is to facilitate their operations through simplified record keeping allowing them to spend more time selling and less time in the office ( or my office ) paying us !
Our legislation has been drafted and we have begun “ shopping ” those with high hopes of making both simple and major reforms to the Texas Property Tax Code . Follow me on Facebook for additional information and check out the website ( under the Press Releases and Important Information link ).
Also under that link is a simple to follow power point show ( Navigating Property Taxes When Owning a Home - Avoiding Tax Gaffes ) designed to help new property owners be responsible and proactive with regard to their taxes . I will continue to develop information that benefits you just tell me what you need !
Keep an eye out for that annual love letter – it too has a new and improved look and – I hope it does not deliver too much love !
MOMENTUM / October 2018 14