Awards - Finance Electronic Transfer Tax Application
The County’s Transfer Office has been experiencing a high volume of property transfers and mortgage refinancings due to low interest rates and the robust real estate market in Montgomery County. The business process for intake, logging, reviewing, performing calculations, and transmitting documents and funds was manual, cumbersome, and labor intensive. The processing time for simple deeds (i.e., simple property transfers between homeowners) and deeds of trust was averaging up to 30 days due to the increased volume of transactions. The County experienced significant lost investment income resulting from the delays in processing and similar delays in depositing the transfer tax checks accompanying the applications. Private settlement companies incurred costs for hand delivery of paperwork at multiple stages.
The Department of Finance determined the need for a total turn-key business solution that would automated the transfer tax application and payment process. In February 2002, the Department of Finance program and information technology staff met with a private settlement company that is a high-volume participant in the County’s transfer tax application process, and formulated the strategy of combining database solutions and document image retrieval to create a streamlined, integrated application that includes: paperless electronic application submission, automated calculations and review, automated electronic processing of tax payments, and database tracking of payment information, all accessed through the County’s web site. It is a cutting-edge application that brings simplicity, speed, and cost savings to all parties involved in the property transfer and tax collection process. The concept of business process re-engineering was embraced to develop the application. The business processes were illustrated and defined using a business system flow chart that served as the blueprint for the application development.
The new paperless system enables settlement companies to accomplish processing of simple deeds and deeds of trust online, rather than utilizing the traditional “walk through” method. The faster processing resulting from the system benefits the County through faster deposit of tax receipts and increased investment income, and virtually eliminating staff time required for processing these documents. The application has reduced the processing time for recording deeds from and average of 30 days to 15 minutes. Savings to the County in investment income results from depositing the payment automatically via the ACH electronic payment system on the same day that the application is received, as compared to depositing funds after a typical 14 day processing time. These savings are estimated at up to $93,600 annually.
From “2003 Top 25 Technology Solutions”
By Public Technology Inc.