Tax Collectors Deed
The Tax Collector's Deed has been updated to make it gender neutral. It was brought to our attention that the notary section read "...to be her voluntary act or deed." Obviously, not all of you are female, so we changed this section to read "his/her."

Deeded Property & Deleted Receipt Reports
The Deeded Property and Deleted Receipt reports previously displayed every transaction from the last purge date. So, if you are a Collector who does not purge your paid items at the end of each fiscal year, the reports would keep adding the current information to the prior years' information. With this update, the system will ask you if you want to suppress the prior years' information from the report.

Address Tree View Displays
A few towns have had issues in the past displaying certain specific invoices when searching by parcel address in cases in which the street address itself contained a unit number. For example, if the parcel was in a mobile home park and the street name was listed as "EVERGREEN ESTATES #1" this would cause an error in the tree view display when another parcel was listed at "EVERGREEN ESTATES #10." This issue has been resolved.

Electronic Tender Type Payment Options
We have added the electronic tender type as a payment option at fee settlement. You can now choose from Cash, Check, or Electronic. When you choose the Electronic tender type, you then have the choice of a description (e.g. "Visa", "ACH", etc.). We added this option to allow you to process any payments you receive via any method other than the standard Cash and Check. The system has several default EFT payment methods -- contact us if you wish to create additional electronic tender type descriptions.

In order to use this function you must first enable the feature. To do so, go to Utilities | Town Information | Rates, Fees, Deposits tab. Under the Deposits, Deposit Slips, & Tender Types section, select Use Electronic Tender Type (EFT). Once you select to Use Electronic Tender Type, another checkbox will display that gives you the option to Include EFT Payments in Deposit Total. If you check the box, the amount you collected in EFT payments will be included in your overall deposit total on the deposit report. For example, if you collect $500.00 in Checks, $200.00 in Cash, and $100.00 in EFT, your deposit total for the day will show as $800.00. Select this option if you want your total deposit to reflect all the transactions you processed during the day, not just what you are actually taking to the bank.

If you do not check the box Include EFT Payments in Deposit Total, the EFT payments will still be itemized on the deposit report, but will not be included in the overall deposit total. Using the example above, the deposit total would equal $700.00, which is the total of the Cash and Checks only. You will want to select this option if you want the deposit total to match what is actually being taken to the bank. With the EFT payment option enabled, you will have to select a tender type radio button (Electronic, Cash, Check) when you pay an invoice. When you select Electronic as the tender type, a dropdown text box displays allowing you to select the type of Electronic payment you received. By selecting the type of electronic payment used, the system captures the information and adds a total at the end of the deposit report summarizing the amounts by each electronic tender type. This is useful when balancing with credit card companies.

Ability to add Bank Name & Routing Number to Deposit Slip
If you are utilizing Avitar's Deposit Slip option, you can now add your Bank's Name and Routing Number to the system. Once the information is added, it will print on the deposit slip. To add the Bank Name and Routing Number go to Utilities | Town Information | Rates, Fees, Deposits tab. Under the section Deposits, Deposit Slips & Tender Types, under the Use System Generated Deposit Slip checkbox, you will see a text boxes to add the Bank Name and Routing Number. Once you had added the information, click Apply Changes.

Counts for Checks added to Deposit Slip
Previously, the Deposit Slip gave the total dollar amounts for the checks and cash received, but did not show the count of how many checks you collect. We have now added the total count of checks.

Deposit Report
There is a signature line labeled "Treasurer's Signature" that appears at the bottom of the first page of the Deposit Report. We had a request to change this to read "Received By" for a municipality in which the deposit was submitted to a bookkeeper, rather than to the actual treasurer. Instead of changing the label (and risking the possibility of making other collectors unhappy) we instead now give you the option of changing the label. If you want to change the label, go to Utilities | Town Information | Rates, Fees, Deposits Tab. Under the section Deposits, Deposit Slips & Tender Types, there is a text box labeled Deposit Report Label for "Treasurer's Signature". Click in the text box and type the information you want to display, which can only be 25 characters long. Click Apply Changes. If you do not change the label, it will continue to read "Treasurer's Signature" as before.

Reason for Deleting a Receipt
When deleting a receipt, you will now need to enter a text description of the reason for deletion. Currently you have radio button options to describe the reason for deletion as due to data entry error or returned check. You will still have these same two options, but you will have to add more of an explanation. For example, you delete a receipt due to Data Entry Error and add the Reason as "Posted to wrong account. Payment should have gone to John Smith." When you print the Deleted Receipts report, the description will show.

Outstanding Balance Tool Tip
A Tool Tip is used to assist you in finding information without having to leave the current screen. In this update, we added a tool tip to assist you in finding what is owed on a first issue billing when you have the second issue invoice displayed. To see the Tool Tip, first find a taxpayer and select their 2009P02 invoice. While on the Details tab, on the bottom right side of the screen you will see a heading called Tax Rates. (If your municipality has Taxable Districts the default display for this portion of the screen is "Taxable Districts" -- you will need to click on the "Show Tax Rates" icon next to the heading to display the Tax Rates.) At the bottom of the Tax Rates column, you will see First Bill. This is the amount that was billed for the first issue. If you hover over the amount of the First Bill, the tool tip will show what is still owed for that billing. This will eliminate having to click on the 2009P01 invoice when displaying the 2009P02 invoice.

Ability to Filter Receivables Report
You now have the ability to filter the invoices that appear on the Receivables report. We heard from a number of tax collectors that they had requests to print a Receivables report for only liens or only the invoices for the current tax year. You will now be able to filter the warrants that appear on the Receivables report. You have always been able to suppress paid invoices by selecting the Only Unpaid Invoices radio button, but to suppress warrants, select the Filter Warrants check box. Click on the Set Warrant Filter link to choose the warrants you wish to appear on the Receivables report. You can check the individual check boxes of the specific warrants you wish to include, or you can use the links at the bottom of the Warrant Filter dialog box to select entire categories of warrants. Once you set a Warrant Filter, it will remain available until you close the application.

Assign Credits to Warrants Sort Order
When Assigning Credits to Warrant, you can change the sort order by which the credits are displayed. They can be sorted by Payer Name, PID, or by Receipt Number. The system defaults to displaying them alphabetical by Payer Name. To change the sort order, click on the heading Credits By Payer. This will display the Credit Sort Order dialog box. Click on the radio button next to the option you want and select OK. The credits will now display in the order you requested.

Tax Bill Format Changes
This update includes a new property tax bill format that several of you may wish to begin using. The previous laser printer format for property tax bills was divided into three distinct thirds that all contained essentially the same information. The intention was that the bottom third was removed and retained at the town office before mailing the other two thirds to the taxpayer. The taxpayer would then keep the middle portion for his or her records and return the top portion with the payment. This format still exists, although the placement of several of the options may have changed slightly.

However, we have added a new alternate tax bill format in which the entire page is designed to be sent to the taxpayer and they return the bottom third with the payment. By doing it this way, it allows us to simplify the format of the bill by eliminating much of the duplication of information. If you elect to use this format, you must make certain to either print a duplicate set of bills (the entire page) to retain for your records, or you should export a copy of the bills to PDF format for reference. If you elect to actually print a duplicate set of bills it will obviously take more paper, but you avoid having to spend time separating the bottom third for your records.

The alternate property tax bill format has several advantages:
-- You have more control over the message you include on the tax bill. This format provides more space than the previous two lines.
-- You can choose to include an image unique to your town across the top of the tax bill. Similar to the notices, you can include an image that spans the width of the page. Or you can include an image that's only half the width of the page.
-- The bill more clearly indicates the current due amount, as well as any past due amounts.
-- The bottom third is formatted such that it can be inserted into a standard double window envelope and to reveal the appropriate payment and return addresses.

If you would like to see a sample of the new tax bill format you can click the link below. Note the sample is a PDF file so you will need Adobe Reader in order to view the sample. The sample includes three tax bills -- a regular bill, a copy of a bill to be sent to an additional mail-to recipient, and a bill with an outstanding due amount. The image included in the sample is purely for illustration -- you can choose to include your own letterhead or seal image in either of two formats or you can choose a default return address without any image at all.

View Sample of Tax Bill Format

If you wish to use the new format, you must set it as the default property tax bill format by selecting Utilities | Town Information | Miscellaneous | Tax Bill Setup. Check the box labeled "Use Alternate Format" to begin using the new format. Once you do, you have several options for formatting the header of the bill. The "Regular Return Address" option uses the default, in which the municipality's address information appears in the upper left hand corner of the bill's top third (suitable for display through the envelope's second window). The "Unique Image" option allows you to add an image that will appear in the upper right hand corner of the tax bill. This could be a town seal saved as a JPG file. You may need to experiment with the proper size and scale in order to have it display properly on the tax bill. The "Same Image as Notices" option will appear if you have already configured your notices to include a header image. If you select this option, the same image will be used on the tax bills.

Delinquent Tax Notice
We have modified the Delinquent Tax Notice by increasing the font size on the following text "Total Due Amounts as of xx/xx/xxxx".

Mortgagee Icon
We have added a Mortgagee icon to the Receivables display. When you have attached a Mortgagee to a parcel, a Bag of Money icon will now display on the Details tab next to the Billed Owner radio button. You can click on the icon to display the Maintain Mortgagee dialog box.

Additionally, we have added another menu item to the Mortgagee menu available when you are logged in and have the Receivables tab displayed. Previously, a single menu item loaded the Maintain Mortgagees dialog box, but the dialog box allowed different functionality depending on what was visible on the main screen when the item was selected (i.e. whether check boxes were displayed for the specific parcel or not). In an effort to eliminate this confusion, we created two distinct menu items: "Mortgagees on This Parcel" and "All Mortgagees." The "Mortgagees on This Parcel" selection allows you to assign or remove mortgagees from the parcel for the currently displayed invoice. The "All Mortgagees" item allows you to modify address information for specific mortgagees, regardless of whether or not they are assigned to the parcel for the currently displayed invoice.

Mortgagee Lien Notice
The Mortgagee Lien Notice process involves a search of the registry, which includes a fee and notification of all mortgagees recorded at the registry. Also it includes a fee for the accounts with mortgagees attached to them. We have collectors who use the Tax Collect program to maintain the mortgagees and produce the mortgagee notices, collectors who have an outside agency that searches and produces the notices for the collector, and collectors who do some of each process. No matter which process you use, we have added three radio buttons to the Mortgagee Lien Notice process which will assist you in posting fees.

Select the "Both Search and Notice Costs" radio button, under the heading "Fees To Apply Today", if you want to continue posting expenses and printing your notices all at one time. This is the process you have been using thus far in Avitar Tax Collect.

The "Search Cost Only" radio button allows you to post the search cost to every liened account for the selected warrant. If you select this option, you should post the search costs at the time you are sending the information to your researcher. You will post the notice costs later once you have the results back from your researcher.

Select the "Notice Cost Only" radio button if you previously posted the Search Cost and now need to charge the notice cost and prior to producing the Mortgagee Notices.

It is your choice whether you do any or some of the steps above. However, if you initially decide to post just the search costs with the intent of posting the expenses for the mortgagee notices at some point in the future, it is critical when you produce the mortgagee notices that you remember that you have already posted the search cost. At that point you should choose to only post the notice costs.

Deed Notice List
In order to make the Mortgagees distinguishable from the property owners on the Deed Notice List, we have indented the Mortgagees and changed the font to italics.

Include Book/Page on Tax Collector's Deed
In the past, the Tax Collector's Deed did not refer to the book and page of the original deed for the current taxpayer. We added the ability to include and update the book and page to assist those who want this information to print on the Tax Collector's Deed. When you go to Reports | Tax Collector's Deed and select the property, you will now be asked if you want to include the book and page on the deed. If you select No, you will continue as you always have and the deed will not change. If you select Yes, the Edit Book & Page dialog box displays. Type in the information from the original deed and select OK. Note that the book and page information you enter will display on the deed, but is not saved to the database. Therefore, if for any reason you need to reprint the deed, you will need to enter the book and page again.

Redemption Report Redeemed By Options
We have added several Redeemed By options to the Redemption Report process. You can now choose to have the Redeemed By information show as the Owner of Parcel at Time of Lien, Current Owner of Parcel, or Payer of Final Lien Balance. We have had several requests for the system to operate in slightly different ways. Rather than enforce one method for all, we are leaving the choice up to you.

Note that the Payer of Final Lien Balance will display the Payer you entered when making the final payment on that lien. For example, imagine a property is owned by "Smith, John" and "Citizens Bank" sent a check to pay off the lien. If you enter "Citizens Bank" as the Payer at the time of the payment, "Citizens Bank" will display as the Redeemed By on the Redemption Report when you choose the Payer of Final Lien Balance option. If you leave the payer as "Smith, John", he will display as the Redeemed By.

Recording Fee as Penalty Type
We have added "Recording Fee" as a penalty type in order to accurately display the Registry of Deeds recording fee for a Current Use Change tax. After you have supplemented a Current Use Change tax into the system, you can add the fee by going to Penalties and selecting 6.9 Recording Fee. Once the fee has been posted to the invoice, the penalty will display as Fees and be added to the total due amount when you print the tax bill.

Refunded Credits added to Collection YTD Report
At the request of several of our collectors, we have added Total Refunded Credits to the Collection Year To Date report. This figure displays under the Credits section.

Archived Reports - Receivables By Owner & Monthly Balance
We added additional reports to the growing list of Archived Reports. It came to our attention that auditors typically wanted the Receivables Report sorted by Owner then Warrant. This is a report listing each owner and what they owe as of the end of the year. Previously, the system was archiving the Receivables Report grouped by Warrant. Now it will include the same report grouped by Owner.

The system will now archive the Monthly Balance Report at the conclusion of each month. As a result, you may notice that the system takes slightly longer to load (in the order of a few seconds) the first time you open the system in a given month. At the beginning of any new month, the system will continue to capture the beginning balances for the new month as it has always done (which may force a deposit if you have undeposited receipts). Additionally, it will now archive the report for the month that just ended. When you print monthly balance reports for previous months, the system will display the archived reports. Additionally, they will continue to be available from Reports | Archived after you close the current fiscal period.

Reprint Receipt from Prior Years' Database
You now have the ability to reprint receipts for receipts that have been purged from the current year's database. This can be helpful if you are asked to provide copies of receipts from a prior fiscal year to taxpayers when it comes time for them to do their taxes. To reprint a receipt, first press the Prior Years button on the system toolbar to display historical information contained in the system's prior years database. Use the tree views on the Receipts tab to locate and display the receipt you wish to reprint. With the receipt displayed, select Reports | Reprint Receipt. Note that if the receipt still exists in the current fiscal year's database (i.e. at the time of the close there was an outstanding credit on the receipt or you chose not to purge invoices and receipts) you will be prompted whether you wish to reprint the receipt as it appears in the current database. Virtually without exception, you should always elect to reprint from the current database if the receipt still exists there.