Mayors and managers work hard every day to ensure their workers make the most of their time on the job, providing the services and programs their taxpayers want and need as efficiently and effectively as possible.
The Illinois Department of Revenue has determined some specific tax and financial data can be shared only with specified municipal employees and is attempting to limit those even further. That means consultants such as Azavar Government Solutions, which works with municipalities around the state to secure millions of dollars in tax revenue, will be barred from providing their expertise. And it puts managers and mayors in danger of being charged with a crime if the data is not handled properly.
Payrolls are already far too stretched to hire workers to track and check all of the local tax revenue sources. Third-party companies such as Azavar do the legwork for cities, using local data and technological expertise to track that sales and utility taxes and other local fees are being properly collected – and closing gaps to produce valuable revenues in many cases.
These partnerships are an extension of what many local governments do every day to provide the efficient services taxpayers expect. Cities use outside attorneys for legal counsel, outside accountants and auditors to record their finances properly, outside rating agencies and financial advisers to ensure bonds are sold at the most favorable rates. Why shouldn’t these types of data be available for cities to share with consultants to do their expert work and return a better value for taxpayers?
By analyzing mountains of financial data that would take city employees much longer, Azavar helps local governments shore up their finances and maximize taxpayer investment, improve their creditworthiness and better protect their data than ever before – all for a fee only collected on the amount of “lost” revenue the company’s experts find. A win for all involved.
Azavar and Councils of Government from around the state are continuing to work with state legislators, led by state Sen. Michael Hastings, to ensure this powerful financial tool can still be an asset for cities. This would make clear that this specific data can be shared with companies that contract with local government, and provide a 21st Century standard for how it must be protected by everyone who has access to it.
Remember: without this new legislation, city managers could be charged with a misdemeanor if a CD of local sales tax information or other data would be opened by a mail clerk, shared with a city council finance chairman or used in a PowerPoint presentation for a bond rating company.
It’s time for Illinois to provide the protection cities deserve for local finances and the freedom to work with companies that can make the most of every local dollar. Support this movement to provide greater control over developing your economic base, improving your credit ratings and managing the cost of providing top-notch services and programs – all while protecting tax data.
