Dauphin County Tax Collection Committee

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Dauphin County Tax Collection Committee
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New Government Entity TCC

• Dauphin County TCC is new government entity
• 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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Dauphin County TCC

• Represents 52 members
• 41 Municipalities, 11 School Districts
• 2 Counties
• All of Dauphin County (except Reed Township)
• 2 Schuylkill County municipalities (Porter
  Township, Tower City)
• Presently represented by 5 Tax collectors
  (Berkheimer, Capital Tax Collection Bureau, Derry
  Township Tax Collection, Lancaster Tax Collection
  Bureau, Upper Dauphin Area Tax Collection Bureau)

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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 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
• Understanding basic TCC steps important for two
  reasons
• Know what needs to be done/start planning
• Think about who will ensure things are done
  does TCC need an employee?

• NOW

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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 ad
• opt 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 Dauphin 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

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

• Decision on single-county or multi-county TCC
• Study income tax collection options/decision on
  tax bureau vs. independent third party collector
• TCC insurance decisions
• Decision on TCC jurisdiction over LST and other
  taxes

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TCC First Stage

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

• Appoint new tax appeal board
• 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 Finance Operating Costs

• No TCC expense payments until budget adopted
  (unless paid by one or more taxing authorities,
  IU, or County with expectation of TCC
  reimbursement)
• TCC will have operating costs separate from EIT
  collection cost
• Such operating costs to be shared by the SDs and
  munis within the TCD in proportion to EIT revenue
  (different from weighted voting population not
  considered)

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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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TCC First StageTCC First Stage Year 2
2010/2011

• May/June 2011
• July 1, 2011
• Nov/Dec 2011

• School districts adopt new EIT or PIT resolutions
  effective 01/01/12
• TCC deadline to adopt and begin implementing
  transition plan for transferring responsibilities
  to new Act 32 tax collector and implementing Act
  32 income tax law changes
• Municipalities adopt new EIT or PIT ordinances
  effective 01/01/12 (might want to accelerate
  adoption to earlier date)

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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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Dauphin County Act 32 Tax Planning Committee
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TCC Planning Group Steps

• What will planning group do?
• Series of meetings
• Collect/summarize tax facts (from DCED website
  and taxing authorities)
• Address/develop recommendations on major TCC
  issues
• Education/communication affected parties
• What legal authority?
• Why start now?
• What if TCC rejects recommendations?

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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
• PASBO Act 32 TCC Model Bylaws Available
• DCED model bylaws
• Governing body representatives of every school
  district and municipality within TCC that levies
  EIT
• Mini United Nations 52 Delegates
• 11 SDs/41 munis 52 possible delegates
• PA Senate 50 Senators
• 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 Bylaws

• 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