Total Collection Solution Features

The Total Collection Solution offers many features and benefits. Though this list is lengthy, it is indicative of the comprehensive capabilities of the system. Systems East has specialized in collections and delinquency enforcement since 1985, and our extensive field experience has resulted in a solution that will fulfill many of your needs and more. TCS includes the following features:

• Operates in the Microsoft Windows environment as a native, 32-bit application.

• Incorporates Microsoft SQL 2000 for database support to provide optimum performance, data integrity, and 24 x 7 availability (backup does not affect  operation)

• Supports secure real-time retrieval, updating, and reporting on-site or at remote satellite offices (including towns) via the Internet

• Ability to view and update multiple parcels simultaneously at one or more stations through the use of multiple windows

• Ability to perform any function or produce any report without impacting other users

• Ability to preview or print any report or export to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, HTML, Rich Text, and ASCII text

• Support for installment payments

• Support for collection of levies in municipalities outside your jurisdiction

• Support for collection of items other than taxes (unpaid utilities, special assessments, public works fees, etc.)

• Login by user name and password; transactions are tracked by user

• Full access to system features via a tree structure menu system

• Included features are compliant with state and local tax law as applicable and relevant; includes ability to support transitional period caused by migration between statutes or collection methods

• Customization is available (at additional cost) as may be required to accommodate special considerations, procedures, or other unique requirements

• Includes ability to synchronize parcel information with external sources or databases as your schedule demands via a filter program provided

• Parcel retrieval accommodates the entry of an interest calculation date for accurate display of current items owed including interest, penalties, and other charges; allows date change at time of viewing, such changes causing immediate recalculation of amounts due without exiting the viewing screen

• On-line parcel location and retrieval by criteria including municipal code, map number, owner name, bill number, street number and/or name, school district, property class, and many others

• Parcel retrieval reveals, among others, the following fields:
  - Parcel ID
  - Prior parcel ID
  - Current owner and address information
  - Property location
  - Assessment
  - Property class
  - Roll section
  - School district
  - Bankruptcy status
  - User-defined parcel flags (ex. Hazardous waste concerns or other reason(s) rendering parcel
        undesirable for foreclosure, adjusted interest rates due to military duty, auction candidate, etc.)
  - Lien holder information, if any
  - Third party mailing information
  - Current exemption codes and amounts
  - Acreage, frontage, depth
  - Deed book and page
  - Tax year (per bill)
  - Tax type (per bill)
  - Delinquency or billing date (per bill)
  - Bill number (per bill)
  - Base amount (per bill)
  - Interest (per item)
  - Penalties (per bill)
  - Amount due (per bill)
  - Parcel comments (per bill)
  - Total due for all items
  
  

• Unlimited number of bills per parcel

• Unlimited number of items per bill

• Unlimited history retention

• Single key access to functions available while viewing a parcel including:
  - Payment application (audited)
  - Tax adjustments (audited)
  - Address corrections
  - Third party name and address insertion, maintenance, and deletion
  - Lien holder name and address insertion, maintenance, and deletion
  - Miscellaneous parcel information maintenance
  - Payment rescissions (audited)
  - Reassignment of receivable asset account
  - Insertion of additional charges relating to a single tax bill
  - Correction of Tax Sale Certificate Number
  - Correction of Delinquency Index Number
  - Insertion, maintenance, or deletion of comments relating to a single tax bill
  - Insertion of a new tax bill and its detail items (allow bypassing of the
        mass delinquency return process for single bills)
        
  

• Tax search with certification area

• Parcel statement (unofficial printed document, public courtesy) including taxes due as of any specified date

• Able to accommodate installment payments on current taxes with separate interest schedules on each payment

• Supports installment plans for one or more delinquent bills for a parcel; installment plans support down payments, payments calculated through an amortization schedule, and balloon payments

• Interfaces with financial institutions as required to accommodate credit card payments over the Internet at no cost (discount) to the municipality

• Bankruptcy indication includes bankruptcy filing date; interest calculation routines respect the requirement that interest on bills levied prior to the filing date is calculated only to that date; interest on bills levied after the filing date is calculated as normal

• Tax search allows inclusion of "In hands of collector" message for taxes known to be billed but not currently being collected by your municipality (public courtesy)

• Charges for tax searches may be accumulated and billed to specific tax search customers such as law firms and title companies; charges accumulate until a bill is generated by the delinquency management system; adjustments and deletions are also permitted to facilitate correction of errors

• Fixed reports including: 
  - Daily Audit Report: Reflects daily transactions
  - Accounting Transcription Report: Creates an ASCII text file of
        transactions and produce report of payments and rescissions to be
        transcribed to your finance management system
  - Listing by Tax Asset Account (Summary): Reflects totals for each
        receivable account
  - Listing by Tax Asset Account (Detail): Reflects detail and totals
        for each receivable account
  - Parcel Detail Report: Reflects all items by criteria for selected parcels
  - Payment Report: Reflects payment activity and totals for user specified date range
  - Bank Code Listing: Reflects bank codes for parcels known to have mortgages
  - Advertising List and Diskette: Creates report and/or a diskette file
        (for automated typesetting) for selected parcels in format commonly
        accepted or requested by local publications
  - Relevy Listing and Transcription: Used for balancing, reporting,
        delinquent school taxes, delinquent village taxes or delinquent
        special district (unpaid water, sewer, etc.) items. Also creates a
        transaction diskette for direct input to your property taxation system
  - Delinquency Transactions: Creates transactions to indicate which
        parcels have one or more outstanding bills. The transaction
        file may be customized to be used for direct input to your property
        taxation system
  - List of Delinquencies: To report all parcels with outstanding taxes
        of a given year and type. Used to comply with Real Property Tax
        Law with respect to the filing with the County Clerk
  - Collective List of Redemptions: Used as a supplement to the List
        of Delinquencies (above) to reflect which parcels have paid their
        taxes since the production of the List of Delinquencies
   

• Includes reports which can be modified by you or your technical staff including: 
  - Letters, delinquency notices, and columnar reports
  - Delinquency Letters
  - Advertising Letters
  - Tax Sale Certificates
  - Redemption Letters
  - Owner/Occupant Notices
  - Advance Notice of Foreclosure
  - Petition of Foreclosure
  - Notice of Foreclosure
  - Tax Enforcement Notice
  - Deed (for foreclosure process)
  - Deed (for land auctions)
  - Land Sale Resolution
   

• Includes the ability to produce reports or letters based on criteria such as municipal code, school district, property class, tax year, tax type, payment status, parcel flags (notations for environmental issues, bankruptcy filing, active-duty military, etc.)

• Includes the ability to produce letters for property owners, third parties, lien holders, or any combination thereof 

• Current levy processing including:
  - Ability to import the real property tax billing files at time of county/town, village, school or utility levies including bills and items
  - Recording of tax collector information, payment dates and times,
        warrant and aid amounts, fiscal periods, and other information typically
       found on the tax bill but not specifically related to any given parcel
  - Facility to reproduce individual tax bills or reasonable facsimiles thereof
  - Facility to include bar codes on tax bills
  - Ability to modify tax bill format
        
  

• Town, village, or school delinquency return process including:
  - Entry (to a staging file for balancing) of current or delinquent items
        via keyboard or from a diskette supplied by the returning entity. 
  - Report of staging file for proofing and balancing purposes by town
        code for town purposes, by SWIS code for village purposes, or
         by school district code for school purposes
  - Transcription to live delinquency master files upon completion of
        proofing and balancing
  - Production of Collector's Return Documents to accompany the transcription
        process; includes collector's certification statement and signature area
  
  

•  Foreclosure process support including:
  - Selection of foreclosure candidates
  - Support for exclusion of parcels noted with environmental issues or
         other reasons for which foreclosure would be not be in the interest
         of the municipality
  - Generation of foreclosure documents required by Real Property Tax Law
        including Advance Notice of Foreclosure, Foreclosure Notices, Petition
        of Foreclosure, and Foreclosure Deeds
  - Generation of USPS approved certified mail tickets ready for attachment
        to envelopes of documents to be mailed pursuant to the foreclosure process
  - Transfer of asset value from delinquent taxes to county-owned property
   

• Land Auction process support including:
  - Listing of foreclosed properties available for sale
  - Marking of land sale candidate parcels
  - Listing of auction properties (land sale candidates)
  - Maintenance of sold properties (name, address, and consideration
        for parcels which actually sold)
  - Production of financial impact report including gain or loss by asset
        value or book value
  - Production of land sale resolution for legislative approval
  - Production of land sale deeds
  - Transcription of new owner information into parcel master files
   

• Integrates with the property tax management system to synchronize parcel assessment and demographic information and for delinquency notification prior to tax roll production or delinquency returns
  

•  Provides maintenance routines for various required tables including:
  - Interest formulas
  - Municipal codes
  - Town names
  - Village names
  - School districts
  - Valid tax types
  - Valid account numbers (improves accuracy of accounting transcription)
        
  

• Includes a utility to transfer all tax items from one parcel to another (helpful for splits and merges)

• Provides automated assistance with apportionments but also permits manual adjustment of apportioned items

• Provides mass generation of tax sale certificates and related parcel status and asset account number changes (required in some states)

• Negotiated price includes an adequate allowance for assisting with conversion of existing outstanding delinquency information and adequate allowance for training of current municipal staff as required to develop proficiency in the use of the software (excludes related travel and incidental expenses)
  
   . . . with many more currently under development! Please take a look at the sample screen images offered by TCS or  contact us to learn more.