Prior to this new service, customers were required to contact the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s call center and speak with an agent to start the process. The agent would then ask a series of questions to determine the caller’s eligibility, after which the call representative would send the caller the application form through the US mail. Once the caller completed the form and sent it back to the office, the Chief Deputy Tax Collector along with the review committee would review the form, approve or reject the application, and scan the document for retention purposes, forwarding the original to the auditor’s office for processing the payment, making a full copy for their records.
The Online Penalty Waiver Project completely eliminated this entire manual, time-consuming process, replacing it with a streamlined, easy-to-use, online solution, available anytime from any device. All aspects of the process were fully automated: eligibility determination, penalty waiver application, approval or rejection of the application, secure online document storage, and secure document transfer to and from the Auditor-Controller’s office.
The Government Experience Awards recognize the achievements and best practices of states, cities and counties that are radically improving the experience of government and pushing the boundaries of how citizen services are delivered.