The Personal Property Escalated Collection Team, part of Treasury Operations in the Finance and Business Operations Division of the Department of Executive Services, is the winner of the 2024 Best-Run Government Award for Cost. The award was one of eight announced by Executive Shannon Braddock on May 8.

Through its Outreach to Businesses program, the team worked collaboratively with King County commercial businesses to recover $5.3 million of revenue and fees from 2023 and 2024 delinquent taxes – and reduce the portion of taxes which had become delinquent from 4.06% in 2023 to 2.85% in 2024.

28,000 businesses make up the commercial portion of King County’s personal property tax base. Over the last 10 years, an average of $225 million is billed annually to these business accounts. Prior to 2020, Treasury averaged an annual collection rate of more than 98.2% of tax revenues assessed on King County businesses, and the portion which became delinquent averaged 1.8%.

Beginning in March 2020, thousands of King County businesses were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite countermeasures put in place by the County and the State Legislature from 2020 through 2023 to help taxpayers navigate the COVID-19 crisis, struggling businesses fell behind with their property tax payments. By 2023, the portion which had become delinquent was 4.06%. “Clearly, the solutions that had been offered during and following the pandemic were not addressing the root causes of the problem,” said Nora Bennett, Chief Treasury Officer.

Through team collaboration, in-depth analysis, and “asking the 5 whys” – a problem-solving technique that repeatedly asks the question “why” to get to the root cause of the problem – the Treasury team determined the core of the ongoing challenge for many businesses was prioritizing other financial obligations over tax obligation; not fully understanding property tax law; and lack of knowledge of or hesitancy to explore available options.

In 2023, Treasury initiated a pilot campaign to focus on high-dollar delinquent accounts. The Personal Property Escalated Collection Team was trained to proactively reach out to delinquent customers and personally engage with them via phone calls, email, and in-person interactions to better understand their unique challenges, educate them about their options, and bring their accounts current.

After hearing a kind and constructive tone, taxpayers opened up about their situation and desire to resolve the issue. “In most cases taxpayers just needed an understanding of options available and to have someone walk them through those options,” said Bennett. “Taxpayers felt they had a partner in helping them through the challenge rather than an adversary making demands.”

As a result of this strategic and relational approach, the Personal Property Escalated Collection Team contacted 150 high-dollar delinquent accounts and was able to recover more than $5 million of revenue and fees from delinquent taxes, which go to taxing districts and King County’s General Fund. The pilot campaign was so effective, it evolved into standard work in 2024.

“The innovative approach taken by this team aligns perfectly with our True North and Executive branch values and our division’s emphasis on being problem-solvers with a focus on the customer,” said Ken Guy, director of the Finance and Business Operations Division. “Their interactions with struggling taxpayers helped establish trust and a stronger sense of partnership between the business community and government.”

Congratulations to the Revenue Recovery through Outreach to Businesses Project Team: Ana Schoenecker, Larry James, Nanci Lambert, Valerie Mora, Nora Bennett, Nicole Baker, and Mark Thompson.