New Login Levels
The Login levels have changed. We have added a new login group called Auditor, which was created to allow town Auditors a way to generate and print reports only. To add an Auditor to the system, go to Utilities | Maintain Users | Add User. After entering the new user information, select Auditor from the Group dropdown box and click Add User.

Also, the old levels have been changed. Level 1, which allowed the user to post payments, generate/print reports, and perform basic utilities has changed to a Basic User. Level 2, which allowed the user to perform all system functions, is now a Standard User.

Deposit Summary Report - Additional Print Options
The Deposit Summary Report can now be generated by deposit number, deposit date, or for all deposits, allowing for more flexibility in requesting information.

Abatement Refunds
Abatement Refunds are used in some towns to process an abatement on an invoice paid in a prior fiscal year. Previously, unless the invoice was paid in the current fiscal year, you were unable to process the abatement and subsequent refund. In order to help the towns that want all their abatements to be processed through the collect system, we have added the Abatement Refund process that will allow you to process an Abatement Refund, but only if the invoice has been posted in a prior fiscal year. Note, if you are processing an Abatement Refund to an invoice that was paid in the current fiscal year, you will not follow this process -- you will follow the process as you always have by posting a beginning balance abatement and assigning the subsequent credit to payables. If you are unsure on whether you should use this process, give us a call.

To post an Abatement Refund, go to your Prior Years database and select the invoice for the property you want to abate (i.e. 2007P02). From the Main Menu, select Abate | Refund Abatement. Enter the abatement amount, reference number (if applicable), and the refund check number. Once the information is complete, click Create. This will now create an abatement and a refund on the current Monthly Balance, Collection Year to Date, and MS-61. To print an abatement report showing this transaction, you must go to your Current Year database. If you have posted an Abatement Refund and need to delete it, you need to go to the Prior Years database and select the invoice to which you posted the Abatement Refund. From the Main Menu, select Abate | Delete Abatement. When the Delete Abatement dialog box displays, click Delete.

Abatement Report
The Abatement report now gives you the option to print deleted abatements on the report. To include the deleted abatements, on the Abatements Report dialog box, click the Include Deleted Abatements check box. The original abatement will show on the report as it was posted and a subsequent posting will show the reversal. Both entries will have a line through them indicating they have been deleted.

Also, if you use the Abatement Refund process discussed above, they will display on the bottom of the Abatement report as a separate entry and total.

Receivables Report - Warrant Totals
We have added a Totals section to the beginning of the Receivables Report, which will give a summary of each warrant listed in the report.

Import Owners - Import Changes Affecting Mortgagees
When you import ownership changes from assessing, you may see an additional message. If you are maintaining mortgagees in the collect system and a mortgagee is attached to a property that has changed ownership, you will now get a message when you Get Assessing Owners of the changes that mortgagees discrepancies may exist. A report will will be generated listing the parcel that may need to be updated. You will only need to update the mortgagees if the ownership changes on that parcel has changed. For instance, if you maintain mortgagees in your collect system and an address change was pulled over from assessing on a parcel that has a mortgagee attached to it, a report will be generated showing the change. In this case, you will not want to take the mortgagee off the parcel because it is still in affect for this property.

Mortgagee Search Report
We have added a Mortgagee Search report to the Title Search Import/Export process. The Mortgagee Search report will give your researcher the information they will need to research the registry of deeds. The report can be run for both the liening and deeding process. To print the report, go to Utilities | Title Search Import/Export. While on the Export tab, select the warrant using the dropdown box. Then click on the radio button designating whether you are generating the report for the lien or deed mortgagee search. If you are producing the deed mortgagee search report, once you select the corresponding radio button, a date field will display. Use the date picker to enter your deed date. Once you have made your selections click Print to display the report.

Ability to add Mortgagees without Invoices
Previously, if a parcel existed without an invoice attached to it (either a new parcel or after a purge of paid invoices) you could not add a mortgagee. You can now add the mortgagee by looking up the parcel by the PID and from the main menu, select Mortgagee | Mortgagees on this Parcel. For additional information see Maintain Mortgagees in the Help file.

Reminder and Delinquent Notices - Ability to select Warrant
You now have the ability to filter the invoices that appear on the Reminder and Delinquent notices. This allows you more flexibility when running the notices. We heard from a number of tax collectors that they wanted to print a Reminder Notice for only the current year taxes. For instance, this process could be used in September to send a Reminder notice for only the 2010P01 delinquent bills.

To filter the warrants, go to Utilities and select the notice you want to print. Select the Filter Warrants check box on the dialog box. Click on the Set Warrant Filter link to choose the warrants you want to include. You can select the individual check boxes of the specific warrants, 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.

Archived Reports - Monthly Balance and Unpaid Receivables Report by Owner
We have added more reports to the growing list of Archived Reports. There is currently a Receivables report by Warrant, however, it lists every owner for that warrant even if they have a zero balance. A few Auditors requested a Receivables report by Warrant report that will only list unpaid accounts. Additionally, Monthly Balance reports from the the prior fiscal year are available from the list of Archived Reports.