08-01-2011, 05:54 AM
It's more cost effective (cheaper for taxpayers) to have the County outsource these invoicing/remitting processing to huge companies that specialize in this type of work. These centers use the latest high speed processing and imaging equipment and can process tens of thousand on a daily basis at a very low cost due to the scale and cost sharing amongst all contracts. These centers are all tied to massive clearinghouses which can speed up the clearing of payments back to the County.
Even taking into consideration the investment return (using local labor that spends their wages locally) it still cost less. Not to mention that processing for things like real property taxes are surge processing which means they may received tens of thousands all at once that need to be processed and credited immediately.
What would be interesting is how much revenue is invoiced, received and what percentage or cost are involved to the county. The same for any other County or State agency that uses this type of service. Maybe a call to your local County Council member and State representative can get those figures. With that, some energetic entrepreneur can see if it makes sense to start an in-state company handling this. Besides government, there may be other local businesses that can benefit from a local in-state processing center.
Even taking into consideration the investment return (using local labor that spends their wages locally) it still cost less. Not to mention that processing for things like real property taxes are surge processing which means they may received tens of thousands all at once that need to be processed and credited immediately.
What would be interesting is how much revenue is invoiced, received and what percentage or cost are involved to the county. The same for any other County or State agency that uses this type of service. Maybe a call to your local County Council member and State representative can get those figures. With that, some energetic entrepreneur can see if it makes sense to start an in-state company handling this. Besides government, there may be other local businesses that can benefit from a local in-state processing center.