Tax Collectors Association Builds Networks Through Sharing

ROGERS — The modern term may be “networking,” but Benton County Collector Gloria Peterson prefers to talk about the importance of sharing.

Peterson and other county tax collectors and their staffs from across the state gathered at the Embassy Suites on Thursday for a continuing education workshop held by the Arkansas County Tax Collectors Association. The workshop and other events provide collectors with an opportunity to learn and share what they’ve learned, Peterson said.

“It’s beneficial to stay in close touch with the other collectors,” Peterson said. “They share the problems that they have and everything that affects the way they do business.”

The group also works to influence the crafting of legislation that could affect their offices, Peterson said. State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, a Republican from Rogers, said the group is active, hard-working and professional in their dealings with the Legislature. Bledsoe pointed to a bill to allow owners to register their vehicles in advance for up to three years — Senate Bill 501 that became Act 437 of 2013 — that would not have been possible without the support and cooperation of county collectors.

“The collectors were a very important part of that,” Bledsoe said of the legislation that was approved for a pilot program in 2011 before being fully authorized this year.

Sue Liles, White County collector and president of the association, said collectors offices in all

75 counties have to be able to provide proof to the state that a vehicle owner is up to date on their taxes and current on their property assessment for the extended registration system to work so the vehicle license stickers can be issued each year of the prepaid registration period.

Bledsoe said she worked with the collectors and the Association of Arkansas counties on the legislation. Chris Villines, executive director of the association, said the Association of Arkansas Counties acts as an umbrella organization for the nine separate associations representing county-level elected officials. The multiyear registration bill was typical of one type of legislation the groups normally deal with, Villines said.

“One type of legislation is generated from within our groups,” Villines said. “Those typically deal with administrative issues and similar issues. The others are generated outside. With those we’ll take a look at what impact it will have and if we do have a sense it’ll be a problem we’ll work the the legislator “

Villines said that second scenario played out with the vehicle registration bill.

“It couldn’t have happened with the initial idea and Sen. Bledsoe had a wonderful idea,” Villines said. “From our side there were two key groups involved, the county assessors and collectors.”

The system as it operates in Arkansas requires vehicle owners to assess their property and pay their taxes before they can obtain their vehicle license tags, putting some enforcement “teeth” into the system, Villines said.

“We had to find a way to build into the system that those two things are checked,” Villines said. “The collectors and assessors and I sat down with Sen. Bledsoe and worked that out. The Department of Finance and Administration was remarkable to in their openness toward improving the system.”

The response to the change during the pilot program was even greater than expected and the extended system was approved this year, Villines said.

The work on the vehicle registration bill was typical of the way collectors try to assist with legislation, Liles said.

“When we have an issue or a problem we’ll approach a legislator and ask for help,” Liles said. “Most of the time they’ll work with us on what’s workable and doable.”