NEW ORLEANS – July 19, 2012 – CivicSource, the property auctions marketplace, announced today that it collected 99.96% of the property tax revenue due to East Baton Rouge parish. The Sheriff’s office worked with CivicSource to utilize its pre-sale collection processes and to bring the tax sale online to further enhance the collection efficiency of parish revenue. As a result of CivicSource digitizing pre-sale processing and its ability to reach a global network of investors via CivicSource’s online marketplace, this year’s tax sale adjudicated only 350 properties, down from 2,200 last year.
A challenge for political subdivisions is to allocate the resources necessary to weed through reams of taxpayer data – missing names, lacking phone numbers and incorrect addresses – for thousands of properties and then posit actual notice with all tax sale parties apprising them of the pending sale. For this sale, CivicSource conducted more than 76,000 outreach efforts, including public records research, certified mailings, telephone campaigns and journal advertisements in order to process 18,000 tax accounts to prepare them for sale. By applying CivicSource’s comprehensive pre-sale solutions, East Baton Rouge parish was able to collect on 16,212 property tax accounts prior to sale, leaving only 1,476 for auction, down from 4,845 last year.
“Sheriff Gautreaux’s annual property tax collection percentage was already among the highest in Louisiana,” said Bryan Barrios, CEO of CivicSource. “CivicSource introduces further efficiencies by digitizing the entire process and extending the reach of the sale to a global network of investors.”
By bringing the tax sale online, East Baton Rouge gained exposure to a broad new group of potential investors: nearly 6,000 unique visitors – from nearly every state in the U.S. and more than 26 countries across the globe – reviewed the tax sale conducted online at www.civicsource.com from June 12th – 14th.
CivicSource managed and funded all aspects of the East Baton Rouge sale costing almost $650,000. External funding of the sale process can serve as an effective way to save money, increase revenue and keep delinquent property taxpayers current on their liabilities, as many government agencies struggle to find revenue to make budgets and keep vital programs functioning.
For more information on CivicSource or to learn more about property and tax sales, go to www.civicsource.com.
About CivicSource
CivicSource, the property auction authority, is America’s online property auctions marketplace, providing Sheriffs and government agencies with a comprehensive, no-cost solution to conduct property sales. By offering delinquent properties to a global network of investors, CivicSource helps agencies place properties back on the tax rolls and increase revenues. CivicSource is wholly funded by the delinquent or by the tax sale purchaser, thus freeing government agencies to prioritize their resources and appropriate tax dollars to other vital programs.