The Jacksonville property-tax collection site is staying open, Pulaski County Treasurer Debra Buckner said Thursday, after her office announced earlier this year that it and another site would close as the county focuses on making electronic payments easier.
City officials and Justice of the Peace Bob Johnson, D-Jacksonville, had pressed the county to keep the site open. Officials eventually facilitated a renovation of the building where the state revenue office and county tax-collection site are housed.
An $80,000 renovation of the office should be completed by next year, said Jim Durham, director of administration for the city of Jacksonville. The office -- which houses outlets of the state revenue department, the county tax collector and the county assessor -- will not close during the 45-day renovation.
The county does not pay rent to the state for operating in the revenue office building at Crestview Plaza but pays for staff and equipment at the location.
Buckner said she hopes a building that is better equipped for current technology will reduce the costs of sending workers to the site to address power shortages and water damage.
The county will pay several thousand dollars for some of the renovation costs, Durham said, including $4,000 each for two new work stations. The rest of the costs will be covered by the building owner, Patricia Chambers, who will be paid back in part by the state through higher rent.
The state wanted to keep the site open because many people need to pay property taxes before being able to renew license plate tags, which the state handles, Durham said.
Jacksonville will not pay for any of the renovation but has largely facilitated the project, Durham said.
"It is an essential function for the quality of life for the people of Jacksonville," Durham said. Half of the city is 55 years old or more, he added, and those residents prefer to pay taxes in person instead of online.
If the city's population were younger, "we wouldn't even be having this discussion," he said.
Johnson had received letters from Jacksonville residents upset about the announced closure, including one from the president of a title company who pays tax bills in person every day at the Jacksonville site.
Five of the county's six collection sites will now stay open into next year, with the southwest site -- in the Arkansas State Police headquarters on Geyer Springs Road -- still set to close.
The county has not been approached by a group in that area in the way it was approached in Jacksonville, Buckner said.
"That coalition hasn't come together yet," she said.
Buckner's office plans to place an iPad kiosk for people to pay their taxes in the southwest location in the coming weeks. That kiosk will eventually replace the employee and equipment currently accepting payments there, Buckner said.
The treasurer's office selected the two least-visited sites for closure earlier this year in what it said was an effort to cut costs.
On Thursday, Buckner said she was "walking the fine line" between maintaining government services and increasing her office's use of technology. The changes the office has made stem from the difference in how residents prefer to pay their tax bills, with younger people often opting for electronic payments.
Advancing online payments and kiosks could increase efficiency, Buckner said. She thinks her office could eventually be able to cut expenses from its budget by not replacing people who leave. She's estimated as much as $100,000 in savings over five years.
The Jacksonville site also will occasionally have designated days for assisting disabled veterans with tax services, increasing traffic at the site, Buckner said.
Metro on 09/19/2014