9.0.40 Release Notes

New Features

DOR Stratification Real Property Report

The DOR submits a request to each county for their Real & Personal Property Stratification Reports each year; the DOR also gives the county strata to run the reports. Certain counties are required to submit reports not currently supported by the Real Property Stratification configuration.

The DOR Sales Reports will be affected by these new changes.

• The ability to select the primary use codes included in each stratum of the DOR Stratification Real Property Report is needed to ensure each County can accurately report specific requests from the DOR.
  • The Primary Use codes currently mapped to DOR Use Codes when the release is deployed will provide a default selection for the stratification settings. This will allow clients to report in the same manner if they choose not to make any changes with the new functionality.
    • User will go to PACS.Admin > Tools > Stratification Settings Maintenance > Select Details or Add New.

• Where ‘Use Separate Current Use Group’ is NOT checked
  • Single Family Residential – select ALL primary use codes mapped to DOR use Code with attribute ‘Residential’
  • Multi Family/Commercial/Manufacturing/CU-AG/Other – select ALL primary use codes mapped to DOR Use Code with attribute ‘Commercial’, ‘Industrial’, ‘Multi Family’, ‘Current Use’, ‘Other’, ‘MH Park’
• Where ‘Use Separate Current Use Group’ is checked:
  • Single Family Residential – select ALL primary use codes mapped to DOR Use Code with attribute ‘Residential’
  • Multi Family/Commercial/Manufacturing – select ALL primary use codes mapped to DOR Use Code with attribute ‘Commercial’, ‘Industrial’, ‘Multi Family’

Because the Current Use indicator controls the use codes included in each stratum, changing the indicator requires user review. If the state of the ‘Use Separate Current Use Group’ check box is changed (checked or unchecked), the user will receive the following notification

• In addition to the existing mapped primary use codes, each client office is able to include or exclude primary use codes from the default selection for each stratum through a NEW button ont he report configuration.

NOTE: This is intended to allow each office to meet the county specific DOR reporting requirements. The County is responsible for reviewing these situations.

• If a Use Code is selected in an existing stratum and the new ‘custom’ stratum described below, a property with that Use Code is expected to display in only that exiting stratum. The property will not display in the custom stratum.
  • PACS.Admin > Tools > Code File Maintenance > Land > DOR Use Code
  • 
  • PACS.Admin > Tools > Stratification Settings Maintenance > Details
  • Select Use Codes
  • 
  • 

• To allow further flexibility in reporting, new functionality to add a ‘custom’ stratum to the Real Property Stratification report settings has been added.
• 
• 
  • The new custom stratum will populate the DOR Stratification report in the same manner as existing strata
    • The new ‘custom’ stratum will be available regardless of whether the ‘Use Separate Current Use Group’ is selected
    • The user is able to enter a label for the stratum. This will display in the Stratification settings dialog and print on the report as consistent with the other strata labels.
    • The user is able to select primary use codes to include in the stratum, similar to the functionality described above.
    • The primary use codes available for selection will NOT be limited by the DOR Use Code attribute.

NOTE: Special care should be taken when the custom stratum is used and all strata reviewed for duplicate use codes in the selection. This may cause property entries to not display as part of the custom stratum in the report. The user will be responsible for reviewing these situations.

• The user indicates the following fields in the same manner as existing strata: Stratum Beginning Value, Stratum Ending Value, Sampling Frequency, Starting Point.

• The DOR Real Property Property Stratification report will recognize and report only the Primary Use Codes selected as described above for each strata, including the custom strata
• 

NOTE: The Personal Property Stratification settings and report will NOT be modified for the changes above

DOR Sales Report

• The DOR Sales report was modified to display the strata as configured
• 

DOR Composite Tax Rate Report

The DOR Composite Tax Rate report has been modified to render the appropriate land value correctly. Additional modifications were needed to limit how the value is selected for the report. This was a result of the selection including sales values in error.

The Composite Tax Rate Report lists the DFL value and taxes for each district, then shows the calculation of the composite tax rate, the total tax divided by the total DFL value. Originally the report used the sum of the DFL values in the table as the total, but since a single property falls into multiple tax districts, this counted the DFL values mulitple times. A separate query for the total was added to correct this in Release 9.0.37. Now the report has been updated to use only land detail records where sale_id = 0. Land detail records with sale_id > 0 are records associated with a sale and will not be included in the report.

DOR Assessor’s Certificate of Assessment Rolls

PACS has been calculating the values for the DOR Assessor’s Certificate of Assessment rolls using code shared with the DOR Sales Report. It was possible for value to be lost if the property did not fit into the stratification ranges defined for the DOR Sales Report

PACS now calculates the Assessor’s Certificate with a separate query with modifications:

• Current use value is split between the first three lines
  • Designated Forest Land
  • Other Land
  • Improvements on Current Use Land
• The senior amount on line 4 is the amount that can be taxed, after being reduced by productivity, frozen value caps, and senior exemption lists.
• If a property has both current use and senior values, then some of the taxable senior value may also be current use value, which should be added to lines 1-3 instead of line 4
  • PACS does not store the frozen value of current use separately so the value must be estimated
  • The report estimates based on the percentage of current use value to the total SNR value multiplied by the frozen SNR value. The example below shows the calculation:
    • Total SNR = 100,000
    • Frozen Value = 25,000
    • Current Use Value = 5,000
    • Percentage CU – SNR = 5,000/100,000 = .05
    • Reported as appropriate current use value = .05 * 25,000 = 1,250
    • Reported as SNR value = 23,750
    •  

PACS Treasurer New Features

AP Import

A client request initiated changes to the AP Import. A process bar now displays for the import.

Destroyed Property

When a destroyed property is processed through a supplement on a property that has a senior exemption, it appears that the senior exemption is not being accounted for when looking at the final amount of tax due. PACS now recognizes the exemption and appropriate appraised value for a SNR property with destroyed property.

NOTE: Exemption proration and destroyed property together WILL NOT calculate. If both are on the same property/year, a warning message is displayed and only one proration has an effect.

DOR Report – Statement of Taxes Collected

The Statement of Taxes Collected report has been updatIn oded for the new distribution associated to the State technology fee. The enhancement is a temporary workaround until additional attributes can be added for REET fees. This is a Release 41 initiative.

We’ve broken line 12 into two elements:

• Line 12 = (PACS REET State Fee x 2)
• Line 12a = (PACS REET State Fee)
• 

Escrow

Recent legislation was introduced to address flexibility for taxpayer payment of property taxes. The senate bill referenced payment agreements between the Treasurer and a taxpayer for delinquent taxes and for current year taxes. Discussion has been had regarding how PACS will facilitate a method for the Treasurer’s office to accept payments outside of the standard due dates. Currently, tax bills are due on April 30th and October 31st. In order to address different interpretations supported by client offices and to account for reporting issues with the existing escrow module, the following enhancements have been developed:

Current escrow functionality, prior to enhancements in Release 40:

• An escrow can be set to half pay or full pay up until a payment is made to escrow
• Payments made to an escrow can be full or overpayment credit. Partial payments are not allowed
• An escrow can be applied only when it is paid in full. Half pay escrow cannot be applied
• Escrow can be applied individually or with Mass Apply escrow wizard
• The entire amount of escrow credit must be applied
• PACS compares the escrow to the amount due and chooses the payment type code (full, overpayment credit, etc) automatically
• Escrow can be created to include property taxes due or delinquent and an additional collection fee. This was required by the legislation as part of a payment agreement.
• Multiple escrow payments can be made to a property but these are kept separately. If applied they are applied separately which can affect penalty and interest calculation.

In order to meet the reported needs of our clients, we have designed the concept of escrow ‘credit’ or flexible escrow. This is intended to account for creating, maintaining, applying and posting escrow in the most flexible way possible:

• Where a taxpayer may make payments toward an ending balance. This is similar to existing escrow where theuser can use the escrow worksheet or enter a value for escrow.
• Where a taxpayer may make a payment as a credit balance for future use. This is similar to overpayment credits.
• Where escrow can be applied without limitations. This is not year specific or necessarily full or half pay.
• Where payments made as flexible escrow can be kept as a single balance, where new payments add to the total escrow credit and applied escrow reduces the total escrow credit.
  • Example: Escrow created for ending blance of $100, if escrow is applied before the full amount is paid, additional payments are due.

Using the new flexible excrow will allow a user to make partial payments to an escrow record, view all payments and applications of the escrow record and print receipts for each payment.

• Escrow types can now be marked as “flexible escrow” in the escrow type code file in PACS.Admin.
• 
• Using the flexible escrow type coe, a record can be created on a property allowing multiple payments and application. Flexible escrow can be applied toward half, full, or installment items on any property in any year, similar to overpayment credits. Amounts in excess of the amount due will reamin available in the escrow record.
• 
  • Pay into Escrow (Partial Payment)
  • 
  • Make a second payment into Escrow (Partial Payment)
  • 
  • The Escrow records reflect the two payments in the paid column with a status of partially paid.
  • 
  • The NEW Escrow payment history shows an accurate audit trail for each payment
  • 
  • From here, the Escrow can be applied
  • 
  • Apply Escrow credit
  • 
  • Payment Cart View, select the appropriate items to pay. Notice the remaining Escrow Due of $25 displays as an option due, remove before proceeding
  • 
  • 
  • Post Payment
  • 
  • The Escrow record reflects the application of Escrow, displays the remaining balance and indicates a status of Partially Applied
  • 
  • The NEW Escrow Payment History continues to display the transactions
  • 

For the dialogs, panels and reports associated with Escrow, the following modifications have been made:

• The Escrow/Overpayment panels:
  • New Statuses for flexible escrow will display; i.e. Partially Paid, Partially Applied, and Paid
  • The toolstrip buttons will be enabled using the relative values of the amount fields. Allow escrows to be deleted only if they don’t have any transaction applied.
  • Change “Print Receipt” to “Print Receipts” and print receipts for all of the posting payments, not just the latest one.
• Escrow Details dialog (non-worksheet)
  • The amount applied on escrow and new expanded status codes display
  • The options “View Posting Payment” and “View Applied Payment” have been removed and replaced with a “Payment History” panel. Payment details are available to view.
  • The details of the escrow can be edited only when the escrow’s amount paid is zero.
• Escrow Worksheet dialog:
• 
  • The options “View Posting Payment” and “View Applied Payment” have been removed and replaced with a “Payment History” panel. Payment details are avaliable to view.
  • The details of the escrow can be edited only when the escrow’s amount paid is zero.
  • The amounts paid and due and the current escrow status are not shown in this version of the dialog.
• When applying a single escrow to property or multiple properties from Activities> Mass Apply Escrow:
  • PACS will account for the NEW flexible escrow types while the non-flexible escrow types, will still be processed as expected
  • For flexible escrow types, the Property Apply Credit wizard has been modified to support escrows as well as overpayment credits and adjustment credits.
• Escrow Reports
  • Escrow Plat Letter – Previously, the letter displays the receipt number of the single payment. Now, the letter will display the receipt number of the most recent payment.
  • Collected Escrow Applied
    • A row will display for each escrow transaction collected and applied.
    • The report will sort by property ID, then escrow ID
    • 
• Escrow Available Report
  • For the report, a row will display for each property ID having escrow available
    • Multiple escrow transactions available on a property for the same escrow ID will print as a single row on the report
    • If there are multiple escrow IDs per property, multiple rows will display in the report.
    • The report rows will display as a running total of escrow available, taking into account partially applied escrow.
    • 
    • 
• Escrow Listing
  • For the report, a row will display for each escrow transaction collected and/or applied
  • 
  • For Detail option of the report, a row will display for each escrow transaction collected and/or applied
  • For the Summary option of the report, a row should display for each property ID having escrow transactions meeting the report criteria.
  • 

A warning will display to the user indicating that flexible and non-flexible escrows cannot be applied together.

A NEW configuration option has been added to allow a client office to disable the unpaid escrow warning

• The System Setting ‘Display Unpaid Escrow pop-up warning for Property’ has been added under PACS.ADMIN > Systems Configuration > Property
  • When set to ‘False’, non pop-up warning is displayed for a property that has an unapplied escrow.
  • When Default is set to ‘True’, the following message will appear
  • ‑

Payment Receipt

Previously, the payment receipt would suppress the property ID and/or geo ID for fees and REET transaction.

• The change will now only suppress if:
  • the property ID is null (which would be the case if more than one property ID is involved with the fee) OR
  • the receipt is a fee associated with a REET.

Property Access

Previously, bills in Payout Agreement are displayed on the Taxes Due panel of Property Access without any indication that it is a Payment Agreement and not due entirely. Configuration has been added to Property Access Administration called “Toggle Payment Agreement Bills” with the option of True/False and the Help Text “Show Payout Agreement Bills”

• When the configuration is set to False (unchecked)
  • Pay Tax Due – does not show a comment
  • Taxes and Assessments Due – does not show a comment
• Set to True (checked)
  • Pay Tax Due
    • Displays an “*” by statement which is part of a payout agreement, and
    • “This statement is part of a payment plan. Please contract Treasurer’s office for the payment schedule.”

Property Group Codes

As group codes become more popular and the uses more specific, a client requested the ability to filter the display of codes on a property by the role indicated is set up.

• A property group code is configured with a “Notify Role” attribute. This can be used as a filter on the property code grids.
  • A NEW filter is available from the Property Group Codes grid.
  • a NEW column also displays the notify role used in the filter
  • 

NOTE: Existing list functionality in PACS allows a user to create custom lists within the selection dialog. If the intent is to view only a few codes, a custom list can be created and codes removed from the list as appropriate. This is useful when applying the same codes to several properties without using Mass Update.

Modifications have been made to the code file maintenance of property group codes. Specifically, the comment has been enhanced to allow flexibility.

• The “Comment” field in the grid has been relabeled “Notify Comment”
• The Notify Comment can always be edited
• The Notify Comment is no longer cleared when “Notify when present” is unchecked.
• The Notify Comment is no longer a required field
• 

Daily Check Register Report

A client request initiated a change to the Daily Check Register report. The property ID will now display for each check payment. If multiple properties are associated with the payment, only the property with the MAX(prop_id) is printed.

Levy Rates by Tax Area Report

A client request initiated a change to the Levy Rates by Tax Area report. This will allow an option to display individual levies even when levies are linked. Previously, the linked levies were not displayed individually. The NEW checkbox will be selected by default. When the checkbox is checked, any links are ignored and the report lists all the levies individually.

Taxpayer Search

A client request initiated changes to the taxpayer search view. A NEW option to return only international addresses has been added to the taxpayer search.

Tax Statements

A client request has initiated a change to tax statement printing. Options have been added to allow the user to suppress statements based on criteria.

• A NEW selection allows the user to enter an amount that will filter print statement output when selected:
  • [ ] Exclude Statements with Tax Due Less Than ________
    • This will allow a numeric value
    • This will only allow a 2 decimal places.
• If selected, only statements with total Tax Due greater than or equal to the amount entered will print.
• These option will display for the following:
  • Activities > Levy > Tax Statements
  • Activities > Levy > Supplement Statements
  • Activities > Delinquent Notices
  • Activities > Generate Corrected Tax Statement(s)
• A NEW selection allows the user to print statements for properties having the SNR/DSBL exemption with zero tax due:
  • [ ] Include Statements with Zero Tax Due if SNR/DSBL
  • If selected, statements with total Tax Due equal to zero and having a SNR/DSBL exemption will print

NOTE: An option to include statements with zero tax due already exists; this is an addition to that option for only properties having SNR/DSBL exemption.

• These options will display for the following:
  • Activities > Levy > Tax Statement
  • Activities > Supplement > Supplement Statements
  • Activities > Generate Corrected Tax Statement(s)
• The following grid can be used as a reference if multiple options are selected:
• 

Tax Statements have also been modified to address value display for exemptions prorated off. If the exemption has a prorate end date, the exemption value will display as zero for multiple coupon, single coupon and taxpayer statement.

• The Tax Statement value section will display as below values for each scenario:
  • A property with no exemptions – zero is seen
  • A property with exemption but without proration – exemption value is seen
  • A property with exemption but there are proration dates – zero is seen
  • 

User Rights

A new user right has been added for receipting as a result of a discussion with the State Auditor’s office. This will allow separate control of limiting user ability to add fees.

• The new user right is found in PACS.Admin > Tools > User Management > Details > Receipting
• User set up should be verified following the release deployment

Fixes

Assessor

Treasurer

Top of Page Print

Copyright © Harris Govern

Helpstar Defect Corrections

Helpstar Defect Correction