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Finance director outlines modernization of revenue administration, cites progress and staffing risks
Summary
Sheila White, senior director for finance, reported to the Finance and Economic Development Standing Committee on a 16‑month effort to modernize the city’s revenue administration division, citing system upgrades, new workflows, and improved customer metrics.
Sheila White, senior director for finance, told the Finance and Economic Development Standing Committee that the city’s revenue administration division has undergone a 16‑month modernization effort intended to replace outdated processes and systems with automated, data-driven workflows.
White reviewed remediation work after a real estate billing mailing error for the second-half 2025 billing, steps to process duplicate payments and refunds, and an account review process to identify overpayments and credits. She said 75,905 second-half real estate bills were produced and that 33,270 were mailed to property owners rather than mortgage servicers; she told the committee the bills themselves were accurate and that refunds and account-credit options are being processed for duplicate payments.
White described systems and process improvements completed over recent years: an upgraded ERP and a current version of Munis, activation of RVA Pay for personal property, the launch of an RVA business portal to digitize previously paper-based business filings, removal of convenience card fees for 2025 personal property billing, and weekly automated DMV file processing to cleanse the tax roll. She also described a restructured revenue administration division, 71 standard operating procedures produced of 76 identified, new management tools (Gantt billing calendars, unit work plans, dashboards, daily metrics), and customer-experience tools such as RVA 311 ticketing and an online bookings tool to schedule subject-matter expert time.
White said an outside consultant with local-government finance experience (presented earlier in 2024) delivered a final report and helped design control functions, SOPs, and performance dashboards; she also said the city will integrate KPMG findings from a prior forensic audit into future business-account work. White presented customer-satisfaction survey improvements, citing a 110 basis‑point increase in top service scores between early 2024 and 2025 and positive counter-survey results.
On personal property assessment, White reviewed Virginia statutory guidance (Va. Code §58.1-3503) requiring recognized pricing guides such as J.D. Power (NADA/JD Power was discussed) for fair market valuation and described a move from high‑touch manual VIN processing to API-based model-level valuation to improve accuracy. She said the city has not charged card convenience fees on 2025 billing and highlighted ongoing DMV cleanup to resolve legacy record issues.
Committee members thanked White for the presentation and for her service; White disclosed she will be departing full-time city employment. Councilors said they valued the detailed dashboards and asked staff to work with the city auditor to create ongoing reporting to the council so progress is sustained through leadership changes. Committee members asked for follow-up responses to constituent tickets and outstanding personal property issues and requested that deeper technical questions be submitted in writing so staff can respond with detail.
White asked for patience as the department completes the larger modernization work and warned the changes will take time to embed; councilors asked administration staff to prioritize continuity and training to avoid losing momentum after her departure.
