Juniata County Tax Collection Committee Act 32

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Juniata County Tax Collection CommitteeAct 32
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Act 32

• New law which overhauls earned income tax in
  Pennsylvania signed into law on July 2, 2008
• Will affect taxpayers, employers, school
  districts, townships, boroughs, tax collectors
• Applies to every county except Philadelphia
• Reduces number of collectors from 560 to 69
• One tax collector per each Tax Collection District

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Juniata County Tax Collection District (TCD)

• All of Juniata County except Greenwood Twp.
  (which is in the Perry County TCD)
• 17 members of TCC
• 1 School District 16 municipalities
• All members currently have their earned income
  tax self-collected through the school district

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New Government Entity TCC

• Juniata County TCC is a new government entity
• TCC governs and oversees how earned income taxes
  are collected in Juniata County TCD
• Requires immediate school district and
  municipality attention now not later!
• TCC process
• TCC first stage 2 years 2009-11 TCC
  organization and basic tax collection decisions
• TCC second stage forever oversight of ongoing
  tax collection

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TCC Advance Planning

• Taxing authorities should begin advance planning
  for TCC now
• Form planning group Collect/summarize tax facts
• Governance/first meeting/chairperson
  selection/other initial decisions
• Taxing authorities should appoint TCC voting
  delegates and alternates now Delegate need
  not be elected official and need not be appointed
  official this must be done by 9/15/09 must
  convey this information to County Commissioners
• Every PSD must select one delegate to TCC but
  more than one PSD can have same delegate (this
  will reduce number of delegates on TCC and will
  increase efficiency)

• NOW

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TCC initial meeting

• Must take place by November 15, 2009 but can be
  before
• It is the responsibility of the county
  commissioners to organize the time, place and
  location of the first meeting must notify PSDs
  by 9/15/09 of when first meeting will occur and
  must give public notice 21 days before first
  meeting
• County commissioners run the first meeting until
  a TCC chairperson is elected this should be your
  first vote
• Once chairperson is elected county commissioners
  role is finished chairperson now runs the
  meeting
• Weighted vote is default vote
• First vote should be to determine chairperson and
  this should be discussed early (50 based on
  population 50 based on revenue this will be
  distributed by DCED by 9/1/09)

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TCC First StageTCC First Stage Year 1
2009/2010

• October/
• November 2009
• (November 15 deadline for first meeting)

• TCC first meeting
• County Commissioner Chair or designee convene
  meeting no official further County role after
  officer election
• Must elect Chairperson, Vice Chairperson,
  Secretary, Open Records Officer (and possibly
  other officers)
• Should appoint legal counsel
• Should advertise
• Adopt bylaws if possible based on advance
  planning

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TCC First Stage

• After officer election and bylaw adoption/ before
  tax collector appointment

• TCC takes the following steps
• TCC management structure decisions
• Collection method
• Independent third party
• For Profit collectors
• Tax collection bureau
• Create a Juniata County Tax Collection Bureau
• Multi County Collection
• Independent third party
• Tax collection bureau
• TCC finance decisions
• TCC auditor
• TCC bank
• TCC budget operating costs TCC operating cost
  financing mechanism
• TCC tax collection cost allocation plan

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TCC First Stage

• June 1, 2010
• Deadline to appoint tax appeal board

• Appoint new tax appeal board made up of 3 or
  more TCC delegates
• Appoint mediator
• Adopt mandatory and other policies
• Right-to-Know records policy appoint Open
  Records Officer (priority 2009)
• Investment policy
• Tax records policy
• Tax collector investment income distribution
  policy
• Tax collector unidentified funds rules
• Regulations, policies, and procedures for tax
  administration

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TCC First Stage

• Sept 15, 2010
• Deadline to appoint new Act 32 tax collector
• critical date

• If tax will be collected by independent third
  party tax collector, prepare tax collector RFP
  and conduct RFP process
• Formal written Act 32 Tax Collection Agreement
  provisions are very important and should be
  included in RFP
• Decision on whether to accelerate new tax
  collector appointment and universal non-resident
  withholding requirement to 01/01/11 instead of
  01/01/12

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Duties of TCC

• Maintain a record of all votes and actions taken
  by the TCC.
• Appoint and oversee the Tax Officer.
• Set the compensation of the Tax Officer.
• Require, set, hold and review the tax officers
  bond.
• Establish the method of financing for the TCC.
• Adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws for the
  management of its affairs.
• Adopt, amend, and repeal policies and procedures
  consistent with regulations under the Act.
• This is the same thing that the CTCB board does
  now

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Applicable Statutes

• Act 32
• Ethics Act
• State Adverse Interest Act
• Sunshine Law
• Right-to-Know Law

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TCC Finance Operating Costs

• No TCC expense payments until budget adopted
  (unless paid by one or more taxing authorities,
  or County with expectation of TCC
  reimbursement)
• TCC will have operating costs separate from EIT
  collection cost
• Estimates from DCED 125-150K
• Who pays for this You do!
• Such operating costs to be shared by the SD and
  munis within the TCD in proportion to EIT revenue
  (different from weighted voting population not
  considered) therefore, Juniata County School
  District will shoulder the bulk of the expenses

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TCC Second StageTCC Second Stage 2012 and
Future Years

• January 1, 2012

• Act 32 county-wide collection begins (unless
  accelerated)
• Act 32 income tax law changes effective
• Second stage of TCC responsibilities begins,
  involving oversight of county-wide tax collection
  arrangements and periodic decisionmaking on
  continuing or changing arrangements
• TCC oversight organization (or bureau)

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Juniata County Act 32 Tax Planning Committee
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TCC Planning Group Steps

• Who is the leader? How get started?
• Members of planning group?
• SD officials or business administrators
• Local municipal officials or managers
• Identify other interested parties
• Sunshine Law/Right-to-Know Law?

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TCC Planning Group Steps

• How proceed?
• Organization meeting
• Planning group composition
• TCC Legal Overview and Timeline
• Resources needed
• Subsequent meetings
• Authorize letter to taxing authorities
• Act 32 required steps
• Urge delegate appointment

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TCC Planning Group Steps

• County dialogue, including establishing time and
  place for TCC first meeting
• Develop proposed TCC meeting agendas
• Set planning group meetings to address TCC issues
• Prioritize TCC issues/assign responsibility
• Develop proposed TCC bylaws
• Develop proposed TCC budget
• Legal counsel
• Funding mechanism for costs incurred before TCC
  first meeting
• Develop proposed TCC Right-to-Know Law Request
  Policy
• Conduct outreach programs taxing authorities
  and business community

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TCC Bylaws
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TCC Bylaws

• Bylaws critical document address ASAP
• CTCB has Act 32 bylaws ready to go and will
  provide them free of charge
• Governing body representatives of every school
  district and municipality within TCC that levies
  EIT
• Mini United Nations 17 Delegates
• 1 SD/16 munis 17 possible delegates
• Could also be 17 possible alternate delegates
• Weighted voting based 50 on EIT revenue and
  50 on population
• Option to change statutory default rules

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TCC Bylaws

• Major decisions first then drafting and details
• Major bylaw decisions
• Overarching how to streamline governance?
• Delegate number How many voting delegates
  should there be? Should number of delegates be
  reduced to streamline governance? Note TCC
  first meeting requires delegate appointed
  separately by every TA (but multiple TAs may
  appoint same person).
• Vote weight Should there be weighted voting
  based on tax revenues and population?
  Alternatively, should each delegate have just one
  vote? Note TCC must use weighted voting until
  bylaws adopted.

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TCC Structure

• Management committee Should TCC have a
  management committee? If so, what duties should
  be delegated to the management committee?
• Employees Will TCC have Executive Director or
  other employees?
• Vote required for action What vote is required
  for decisions? Simple majority of those present?
  Majority of all delegates? Supermajority for
  certain major decisions?
• Many other decisions

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CTCB role in Juniata County TCC

• We already collect for 100 of Perry County
• Historically, our rate has been between 0.5 and
  0.6
• If the TCC votes to adopt CTCB, the bureau could
  absorb the costs of the TCC
• We already have bylaws, solicitor, auditors,
  director
• This can save the TCC unnecessary expenses

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CTCB role in Juniata County TCC - Technology

• CTCB prints all of its forms in house
• CTCB offers online filing for taxpayers
• In 2010, CTCB will offer online filing for
  employers
• New website tax forms available online
• New mailing and emailing software to reduce costs
• Experienced staff in place and ready to go

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CTCB role in Juniata County TCC Other services

• Act 32 only applies to Earned Income Tax
• CTCB can also collect Local Services Tax (LST),
  real estate tax (both for school district and for
  county), OAT, OPT, personal tax
• Can also collect bills (trash, sewer, utility,
  etc.)
• Can print forms for members at cost
• Can be a one stop shop for all taxes in Juniata
  County (similar to Lancaster Bureau)

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CTCB Role in Juniata County

• The longer it takes for TCC to decide collector,
  the more expensive it is for you!
• If you elect CTCB to be the collector at your
  first meeting, CTCB then absorbs all the costs
  associated with CTCB because TCC becomes the
  Board of Directors of CTCB