Department of Finance and Administration could electronically notify motorists that their tags needed to be renewed, then perhaps the coun- ties could electronically bill residents for the taxes due on their property. “I came into the office the next day and said, ‘Tis is what we’re going


to do,’” Buckner said. Many Arkansas county collectors use email notifications to let taxpay-


ers know when their tax books are open, and residents of 45 counties can pay their taxes online. But only Pulaski, Saline and Sebastian coun- ties have implemented a full e-billing system whereby taxpayers can opt to receive electronic rather than paper bills. “It’s a hot topic right now, especially with the big counties,” said


Corey Ramsay of TaxPRO. “Te bigger the county, the more interested they are.” Buckner said that when she considered the number of people who pay other bills online — and the growing use of smartphones and tablet computers — it made sense to implement an e-billing system. “We are trying to be forward thinking and meet the needs of our customers,” she said.


igures gathered by researchers indicate that more and more Americans are embrac- ing technologies such as e-billing and e-shopping. In its 2011 Consumer Billing and Payment Trends study, Fiserv Inc. found that four out of five U.S. households with Internet access banked online. “Consumers are increasingly turning to online and mobile channels for everything from opening accounts to sending and receiving money,” Fiserv reported. “As consumers’ lives become more digital, new services, such as mobile payments, as well as more established ones, such as e-bills, are poised for growth.” Another firm, Deloitte, found that for the first time online shopping


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overtook physical shopping during the 2013 holiday season. Deloitte reported a strong link between the acceleration of online shopping and rising smartphone use. Smartphones outsold personal computers for the first time in 2011 and tablet computers are expected to outsell personal computers by 2015, according to research group IDC. Pew Research Center reports that as of January 2014, 90 percent of American adults have a cell phone. Fifty-eight percent have a smart- phone; 32 percent own an e-reader; and 42 percent own a tablet com- puter. As of May 2013, 63 percent of adult cell owners use their phones to go online. Tere has been a push by Connect Arkansas, a private, nonprofit corporation, to foster broadband Internet education, use and access across the state. Only 42 percent of Arkansans had access to high-speed Internet when Connect Arkansas was founded in 2007. By fall 2013, that percentage was up to 69.


move to an electronic procurement system in 2005, when it banned all paper invoicing of suppliers. Sweden has had an e-invoicing system in place since 2008, with Finland following suit in 2010. Mexico and the United Kingdom are moving toward similar systems. Counties of various sizes around the United States have adopted elec-


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tronic billing systems for taxpayers. San Bernardino County, California, with a population of more than 2 million, Loudoun County, Virginia, with a population of approximately 337,000, and Geauga County,


COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2014


here are several examples of government entities using electronic billing as a way to save money. Denmark, for example, made a


Ohio, with a population of nearly 94,000 are just a few examples. According to the Loudoun County Treasurer’s Web site, e-billing


reduces the chances of a bill getting lost, which could cost the taxpayer extra money in penalties and interest. It also is a green initiative that saves tax dollars by reducing postage and handling costs. Geauga County Deputy Treasurer Dorothy Tompson wrote in an email that her county instituted its e-billing program in 2010. She said about 2 ¼ percent of Geauga County taxpayers use the system, resulting in an annual savings of $1,200. “Other than the savings to us, our taxpayers like the program because they get their bill emailed to them, and they receive their bill a little earlier than if it was mailed,” Tompson said.


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he cost and effort to establish an electronic billing system vary according to the approach the individual county takes.


Pulaski County began its initiative by collecting taxpayer email ad-


“We are trying to be forward thinking and meet the needs of our customers.”


dresses from the county assessor’s office. Its customer service employees built upon that database by asking taxpayers for their email addresses each time they had contact. Pulaski County opted to build its own computer framework for the electronic billing system rather than contract with a third-party biller. Shannon Chronister, data processing director for the Pulaski County Collector’s office, said it was important that taxpayers feel their information was secure. “One of the best decisions we made was to create the profiles here on the Pulaski County Web site,” he


— Debra Buckner, Pulaski County Collector


said. “It set us back time wise, but we have control of the data.” Pulaski County used the more than 66,000 email addresses it had


gathered to send a survey asking whether those taxpayers would be will- ing to opt in to an electronic billing system. More than 56,000 taxpayers received the email, and a little more than 15 percent of them said they would opt in. So after the electronic billing law was passed by the state legislature


last year, the county was poised to issue its first electronic tax bills. Tere were some initial issues. So many taxpayers responded when


the February 2013 tax notifications went out that the computer system temporarily crashed; and some taxpayers’ Internet browsers were not compatible with the system. Buckner said those problems have been ad- dressed. And taxpayers who want to pay by mail still have that option; those who don’t want to participate in e-billing aren’t required to do so. “It is voluntary,” Buckner said. “We are adding to the options. We are never going to eliminate the paper billing.”


issue electronic tax bills this year. Miller said that in 2012 her office mailed every taxpayer a postcard asking them if they wanted to opt in to electronic billing. Ten the local newspaper ran an article, and her staff collected email addresses when they came into contact with taxpayers. “Te collector’s office in Sebastian County is thrilled with this,” she


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said. “We couldn’t wait to begin.” Ballard was similarly excited about the prospect of electronic billing.


She had to walk a few people through using the new system, and she received phone calls from four or five people whose software was so old that they couldn’t use the system.


See “BILLING” on Page 30 >>> 29


ebastian County Treasurer/Collector Miller and Saline County Collector Joy Ballard said they also made early preparations to


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