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Committee reviews tax-season problems: late assessments, lottery-credit confusion and online payment gaps
Summary
Finance staff reported that late assessor statements and large school referendums contributed to taxpayer confusion and increased calls; staff urged clearer messaging on referendum timing and promoted online lottery-credit applications and online payments to reduce City Hall congestion.
Finance staff told the Franklin City Finance Committee that the recent tax season generated a high volume of resident calls, driven by late assessor statements and large school referendums that many taxpayers misunderstood.
Danielle said an assessor delivered the statement of assessments late in December, which compressed the city’s tax‑bill production timeline. “When I say tax bills had to be generated by December 16, and I was calling the Department of Revenue so many times to try and get them to finalize that statement of assessment for me,” Danielle said, describing pressures to meet the mailing vendor’s deadline. She said the city ultimately issued bills and that the citywide assessed value came in higher than the budget projection, producing an average tax increase lower than initially feared—about 1.3%—but many individual taxpayers experienced larger increases depending on assessment changes and school-district referendums.
Nut graf: The committee heard that communication gaps—particularly how referendum mill rates and the timing of expiring referenda appear on certified levy statements—led taxpayers to misattribute increases to the city. Staff recommended clearer, earlier messaging and a special explanatory paragraph for large referendum years in the city newsletter and tax notices.
Committee members also discussed lottery-credit claims and online payment behavior. Danielle said online filing for the lottery credit had increased markedly (about 97 online applications for 2024, and roughly 276 more lottery-credit claimants year over year), which reduced the need for in‑person processing and refunds. She said the city placed prominent signage at City Hall to prompt in‑person taxpayers to ask the teller about lottery credits to reduce later refund processing.
The committee discussed online-payment adoption and the role of escrowed payments. Staff said just over half of taxpayers used the online portal to pay (about 8,130 users in 2024 across all payment channels referenced), but uptake remains modest and many escrowed or bank-driven checks still require staff processing. Members suggested increasing online adoption through outreach and considering whether to equalize in‑person processing costs (for example, charging a small processing fee for walk‑in payments) to reduce congestion. No fee changes were adopted; staff will return with usage statistics and recommendations before the next tax season.
Ending: Staff will work with the county portal and school districts to clarify certified-levy messaging and return to the committee with additional data and proposed communications before the next tax mailing period.
