Xerox/Conduent Tax Advisory Committee Minutes Thursday, December 21, 2017 Conduent, Waite Park, MN Attendee County or Organization In Person/Phone Resa Harris Brown County In Person Matt Armstrong Conduent In Person Richard Ramberg Conduent In Person Kris Whittlef Conduent Conference Call Heidi Wilkinson Conduent Conference Call John L. Thompson Faribault County Conference Call Farley Grunig Farley R. Grunig Consulting Conference Call Heidi Jones Fillmore County Conference Call Karen McClellan Kanabec County In Person Tina Von Eschen Kanabec County Conference Call Michael Sheplee Martin County Conference Call Dan Whitman Martin County Conference Call Connie Kurtzweg McLeod County In Person Bill Sparks Minnesota Department of Revenue Conference Call Lisa Meredith MnCCC In Person Wayne Stein Otter Tail County In Person Ken Olson Pennington County Conference Call Troy Stewart Pine County In Person Marilee Peterson Sibley County In Person Tammi Vaith Wright County In Person 1. Call to Order Tammi Vaith, Tax Advisory Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. with the individuals as stated in the above listing participating either in person or through the conference call. 2. Roll Call Sign In In-person and phone attendees introduced themselves, as noted in the list above. 3. Approval of Agenda Karen McClellan made a motion, seconded by Troy Stewart and unanimously carried, to approve the December 21, 2017 agenda as presented. 4. Approval of Minutes Marilee Peterson made a motion, seconded by Connie Kurtzweg and unanimously carried, to approve the Thursday, November 16, 2017 minutes as previously provided noting the following correction: Kris Whittlef attended the meeting in person and not by conference call. 5. State Update Bill Sparks, Minnesota Department of Revenue noted the following: Thanked all the Counties for their timely submission of the 2016 State General Property Tax Annual Report. Future webinar notifications will be sent to the Department s general email list and not just to the Auditor-Treasurer email list. The Pay 2018 property tax levy report has been posted to the Department s website.
The Pay 2018 final levy survey has also been provided and is due back to the Department of Revenue on or before Monday, January 15, 2018. The Form TNT, which reports compliance with the truth in taxation provisions, is due to the Department of Revenue by Thursday, December 28, 2017. Guidance regarding the classification of 69 KV and under powerlines located within a city will be coming out in the future. There are a few outstanding questions regarding which rate applies (city or county-wide). Counties are encouraged to continue doing what they have done in the past until additional guidance is provided in the future. The Department of Revenue has been receiving many calls regarding 2018 prepayments. The Department of Revenue has no position regarding prepayments and offers no guidance. Provided information regarding Departmental staffing changes. PRISM now accepts daily submission in a testing environment. Discussed briefly the property tax refund program and noted the information which has been provided to counties to assist with answering questions from citizens. Indicated that only one county did not have someone certified in tax calculation. Mr. Sparks also reported that regarding last month s discussion concerning the formation of a work group to review the design of the property tax statement that there are currently no changes being planned that would impact the property tax statement in the future. Mr. Sparks indicated that Sarah had requested participation and that she did not hear from anyone. Concerns was expressed that many counties did not know that participation was being sought and that perhaps another request for participation should be made before proceeding with a design review work group. 6. Liaison Reports: CAMA - Troy Stewart reported that the CAMA committee s last meeting was Wednesday, November 8, 2017 and the next meeting is scheduled for February 21, 2018. Mr. Stewart noted that the Marshall/Swift Update has been released. ISSG Lisa Meredith reported that ISSG does not have a meeting scheduled in December. There is a planned conference call scheduled for January and an in-person meeting scheduled for February in Blue Earth County. MnCCC Board Ken Olson reported the following from the December 14 MnCCC Board meeting: Currently under budget by approximately $6,300. MnCCC has experienced good interest earning this past year. Health insurance was approved with an increase of 13%. Discussed the rules and regulation as they are related to the budget. Reviewed the office space lease with MCIT. Noted the contracts currently under review. Discussed the member only website. Received a conference report/update from Lisa. 7. Committee Reports: LRC Report Tammi Vaith noted that there is no change to the certified rate calculation program and that the release of the certified tax calculation program for beta testing is expected by January 12, 2018.
EIC Report Marilee Peterson reported that a conference call had been scheduled for December 11 th ; however, the committee did not have a quorum; therefore, the meeting was postponed until December 12 th. Marilee then reviewed the following six enhancements: Enhancement T-2017.01 Homestead Status Codes and Dates: Randy, Spillman, Conduent provided an estimate for this enhancement of $3,100. At last month s meeting, the Enhancement and Issues Committee, with the approval of the Chair of the Tax Advisory Committee was authorized to proceed with this enhancement as soon as the estimate was available so that the enhancement is ready on or before December 31, 2017. It was noted that the programming for this enhancement is ready for in-house testing. Karen McClellan and Troy Stewart offered to beta test this enhancement. This enhancement established a set table of codes. Enhancement T-2017.02 Cross County Report: Tax Advisory Committee had previously approved this enhancement for design and estimate. Currently waiting on information from Conduent. Programming for this enhancement request is needed on or before May 1, 2018. Enhancement T-2017.03 Update Abstract of Assessment Program: Randy Spillman, Conduent provided an estimate for this enhancement of $4,960. It was noted that the programming for this enhancement is ready for in-house testing. After discussion and consideration, Karen McClellan made a motion, seconded by Troy Stewart and unanimously carried, to proceed with the programming for Enhancement T-2017.03 based upon Conduent s provided cost of $4,960 with the expectation of completion on or before December 31, 2017. Action Item Denise Anderson will send out a request for beta testers. Enhancement T-2017.04 Creating Mailing Labels - Alternate Names and Addresses: This enhancement is waiting for a design and estimate from Conduent, which is to be provided for review by the Enhancement and Issues Committee and/or the Tax Advisory Committee on or before February 12, 2018. Enhancement T-2017.05 Payment Interface File: This enhancement is waiting for a design and estimate from Conduent, which is to be provided for review by the Enhancement and Issues Committee on or before January 8, 2018. Adding messages to the Edit/Post Payment Interface File that are like the messages in the Escrow Payment File. Programming for this enhancement request is needed by March 1, 2018.
Enhancement T-2017.06 Payment Interface File: Treat the payment interface file like the escrow process and allow overpayment in the file. Programming for this enhancement request is needed before the first half tax collections. After discussion and consideration, Wayne Stein made a motion, seconded by Karen McClellan and unanimously carried, to send Enhancement T-2017.06 to Conduent for design and estimate, which is to be provided by Conduent for review by the Enhancement and Issues Committee at their January 8, 2018 meeting. Data Standards Committee Report Connie Kurtzweg reported that the Data Standards Committee s next meeting is scheduled as a conference call on January 16, 2018. There was a brief discussion regarding materials recently provided by Helen Odehnal, which have been forwarded to the Steering Committee. A discussion of these materials is on the January 9, 2018 Steering Committee agenda. It was noted that this material is basically the same material as previously provided and that there are still some outstanding issues that need to be addressed (report issues and warning message issues). Counties also need to decide if the social security names will be searchable names. There was also additional discussion regarding Enhancement T-2017.01 Homestead Status Codes and Dates and if there is a need for the Data Standards Committee to provide information when the general release of this programming occurs to inform the users that this enhancement/programming is not optional. It was noted that the general release information will contain information regarding the programming. Training Committee Report The following items were noted: This sub-committee of the Tax Advisory Committee is still in need of a chair person. Tax Forfeiture training was held at Conduent in St. Cloud on Monday, December 18, 2017. o 20 counties participated in the training. o It is important to always provide attendees with handouts of the presented materials. o Overall the training was very good. Discussion of training hours. o Conduent noted that they will honor the 50 hours for this year. o These hours will be reviewed for 2018 to determine what they can be used for. o The use of these hours, if not used for training, must be mutually agreed upon by MnCCC and Conduent. There needs to be some type of approval process. o How these hours are used needs to be very transparent. o Support hours standard versus non-standard needs to be discussed. o Perhaps a separate meeting to discuss the use of training hours and the contractual language should be held so that all parties are in agreement. o Opening the contract to address this issue would require a full user group meeting. It would be advisable to proceed with a memo of agreement. Beta Test Committee Tammi Vaith reported that Denise Anderson was not able to attend today s committee meeting; however, Denise had submitted the following written report:
December 2017 BETA Test Committee report to TAC: The following Counties have agreed to BETA Test: 2018 certified rate calculation & 2018 certified tax calculation 1. Wayne, Ottertail County 2. Tammi, Wright County 3. Darren, Faribault County 4. Resa, Brown County 5. Karen, Kanabec County 2018 tax statements 1. Wayne, Ottertail County 2. Tammi, Wright County 3. Darren, Faribault County 4. Kelly, Brown County 5. Karen, Kanabec County 6. Mary, Sibley County Conduent was sent an email on 11/30/17 with this information. BETA TEST PAYOUT The committee had a phone conversation with Lisa Meredith on how the BETA Test payout was handled in the past. The committee has a couple concerns/questions for TAC: Please look at the attachment Beta Test. The Committee updated the spreadsheet with the completed testing and assigned the payout amounts by using the point system that was developed by TAC. We understand that we payout via Alpha Hours as Counties do not keep track of their Beta Test Hours. This comes to question the payout of Prism Update Submission 2 and the dollar amount of $5,000 with alpha hours of 444. When you compare that payout with the rest with lot less hours, $5,000 does not seem to be enough. Looking for direction from TAC on this payout. o The Committee is fine with the rest of the sheet and recommend payout as listed. This year we have noticed that the tax releases were not sent to a couple of counties to test the installation AFTER the BETA testers sign off and before the general release to all Counties. As you can see by the attachment (installs) only two releases were tested before the general release as prior year there was 20+. o o First, we would like to pay out to those on the list as they tested. Secondly, we are wondering if it is in our contract that the releases need to be tested after BETA Testers sign off but before general release. We did confirm with Kris that there were only two tested and asked her why: Here is her response I think the only thing that has changed is that I am too busy to try to coordinate test installs when releases just need to get out the door. Any questions please let me know. Also, let us know what is decided on our questions/concerns. Thanks! Denise M Anderson Auditor/Treasurer Wabasha County The following was discussed as it related to Denise s report: Counties that test the installation after beta testers have signed off, but before general release our paid $100 for each installation tested. Testing installation after beta testers have signed off does not take a significant amount of time, but coordination of that effort does take time. Testing installation after beta testers have signed off and before general release is a best practice intended to be a safeguard for Conduent and to reduce risk. The tax program calendar needs to be updated, which would assist with the coordination of installation testing. PRISM should be given greater weight when determining the payout amounts. After discussion and consideration, Marilee Peterson, made a motion, seconded by Connie Kurtzweg, to approve the Pay 2017 Tax Beta Testing payouts as presented on the payout schedule and as recommended by the Beta Test Committee, except for the payout fee for the PRISM Update Submission 2 release, which is being increased from $5,000 to $6,000 for each of the two participating counties (Faribault and Martin).
There was also a brief discussion regarding the number of counties that have expressed an interest in beta testing certified rate calculation, certified tax calculation and property tax statements. Karen McClellan noted that Enhancement T-2017.01 (Homestead Status Codes and Dates) is not record specific. It was noted that to make the functionally record specific would take considerable time and would be an expensive enhancement. The Enhancement and Issues Committee was disappointed that this enhancement was not record specific, but understood the reasoning. The new system must contain record specific functionally. Mr. Grunig is aware of this requirement and will be monitoring the development of the new software. There was also discussion regarding the tracking of beta testing hours on the beta test signoff form and whether this field should remain on the form. Some consideration was given to adding a message to the form to encourage beta testing counties to tract the hours spent testing. Kris Whittlef will send the form to Denise, Lisa and Tammi for review. 8. Conduent System Status Report Kris Whittlef provided a document dated November 19, 2017 which is attached to these minutes and discussed specifically the following: Training hours added back to the report. Updating the Tax Implementation Plan this coming week so that the plan can be reviewed and approved at the January 2018 Tax Advisory Committee meeting. Penalty and Interest Tables for 2018. Waiting for the Department of Revenue s approval of the interest rate for 2018 before releasing the e-tree. The e-tree will also address the penalty changes for taxes payable in 2018 and will note an upcoming general release that will update the 2018 penalty schedule based on the 2017 legislative changes. The issues arising from the most recent PRISM submission and the need for these issues to be resolved prior to certified tax calculation. 9. Conduent LRMS Project Status Report Farley Grunig noted the following: There is not much happening on the MnCCC project. Reported on the regular meeting and discussions with Lou Schiavone. Conduent has indicated that progress is being made on the MnCCC project. Providing Richard with a list of outstanding issues. The most recent versions of the Condo Complex BAA document and the Condo Unit BAA document have been reviewed with no outstanding questions remaining. Finalizing the change request for updated to the condo documentation. The Prepayment Processing BAA document. Most of the issues concerning the inquiry functionally have been resolved. Reviewed the remote testing site which has been created. Six steering committee members will have access. Three currently do and the other three will be receiving their credential very soon. Reviewed the issues that have been found during the testing of the remote site. o Time requirement to set up the required VPN. o Lack of documentation. o The PTM testing VPN shuts down all other programs on the user s computer. Currently the remote testing site as established is not acceptable. Richard Ramberg is working on a solution. Provided a brief update regarding the Hennepin County project. It appears that many of the data conversion issues are being resolved.
10. Financials There were no outstanding invoices requiring approval at today s meeting. Karen McClellan made a motion, seconded by Connie Kurtzweg and unanimously carried, to approve the financial report as presented and dated as of December 2017. It was noted that there will be some invoice to approve in the future do to the enhancement that have been authorized. Also, there will be additional revenues coming January of 2018 as invoices have been prepared. 11. Member Concerns/Other Business Conference Sessions Topics for the upcoming annual conference in June were discussed. Some of the suggested topics include Detail information regarding data conversion. Review of the Name/Address issues as they are related to data conversion. Beta testing and general information regarding the Tax Advisory Committee and related subcommittees. Tax system purging how, when and what to purge. The member only website. Rules and Regulations There was discussion regarding the number of committee members and the number of voting members. This became an issue at the last Enhancement and Issues Committee meeting when the committee did not have a quorum and needed to postpone their meeting until the next day. The Tax Advisory Committee will plan to review the rules and regulations at the January 2018 meeting. Recommended changes to the rules and regulations can be presented and acted upon at the annual conference in June. To help addressed the issue experienced by the Enhancement and Issues Committee, Tammi indicated that she would step down, which would give an alternate voting membership. After discussion and consideration, Marilee Peterson made a motion, seconded by Karen McClellan and unanimously carried, to accept Tammi s voluntary offer to step down and to appoint Michael Sheplee, Martin County to the Enhancement and Issues Committee. Enhancement/Change Request Form It was suggested that a title line should be added to the enhancement/change request form. Kris Whittlef will sent suggestions to Marilee for consideration. Reminder - Date Location January 18th, 2018 - MnCCC, St Paul February 15th, 2018 - Conduent, Waite Park Changed to February 22, 2018 March 15th, 2018 - Conduent, Waite Park April 19th, 2018 - MnCCC, St Paul May 17th, 2018 - Conduent, Waite Park Adjourn Hearing no further business, Connie Kurtzweg made a motion, seconded by Troy Stewart and unanimously carried, to adjourn the Tax Advisory Committee meeting. Minutes respectively submitted by, Wayne Stein, Otter Tail County