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County forms revenue task force; proposes audits, enforcement tech and modest staffing to boost compliance
Summary
A cross-department initiative led by the county manager identified opportunities to increase existing revenue streams without new taxes, proposing additional audit capacity for business and transient-occupancy taxes, more treasurer resources for collections and a multi-year plan to modernize parking enforcement and payment systems.
The county manager convened a short-term revenue review that included the commissioner of revenue, the treasurer, DES, police and finance staff. At the March work session, deputy director Michael Stewart summarized the initiative's findings and short-, medium- and longer-term opportunities to improve compliance and revenue without increasing tax rates.
Nut graf: The proposed FY26 budget includes funding for one additional enforcement/audit position and one reclassified position in the commissioner of revenue's office aimed at expanding B&P (business, business license/BP?BPEL) and transient-occupancy tax (TOT) compliance audits, and additional treasurer resources to support collections. Stewart said the county's new ERP (PRISM plus accounts receivable module) has improved invoice-term enforcement and helped boost interest income already this year.
Short-term opportunities include expanding audits of business taxes and TOT and better integrating data across systems to support collections. Medium-term work focuses on modernizing parking enforcement (digitizing residential parking zones, replacing meter hardware, moving toward license-plate/contactless enforcement) and planning for camera enforcement and regional reciprocity discussions. Stewart and staff said the county will proceed cautiously on data-retention and privacy issues and will continue coordination with the police and treasurer's offices.
Ending: County staff said the recommended actions aim to raise revenue by improving compliance and modernizing systems rather than raising rates, and that more analysis and phased procurement steps will be presented to the board as the work proceeds.
