I am sure there are plenty of cooler things in the world…
…but when a client is able to generate millions on process improvements that help produce new revenues…well…for me…There is nothing cooler.
Jefferson County, Alabama and their revenue team did it again.
This time they consolidated their tax bills.
For decades, Jefferson County would send two tax bills out to every business in the County.
One tax bill was from the state, and the other tax bill was from the County.
One major challenge included that each tax bill was the exact same amount and it would cause major confusion…one bill from the State and one bill from the County each requesting 1%.
You can imagine businesses receiving these bills thinking they are receiving two by mistake…so, they just paid one.
Then, the County team would try to contact the business and collect the bill that wasn’t paid.
This process could last all year.
Calling and tracking down businesses who just plain didn’t think they were out of compliance.
The team worked tirelessly to find business and collect money and it worked…
…kinda.
After years of working to track people down, Scott Moore and his team found a better way.
They consolidated the tax bill into one letter.
One simple letter explaining the consolidated taxes to businesses and…guess what happened?
In the first year, more than $4,000,000 in new revenue was collected. The team generated new revenue and now the team doesn’t have to spend the whole year tracking down accidental non-payments. They could actually focus on the real businesses who were trying to avoid paying taxes.
People ask me all the time if there is a time where the innovations stop and you just don’t find them anymore.
No. The change never stops.
Innovation isn’t a one and done type of thing.
This change is going to create some new challenges for Scott and his team.
Every innovation creates consequences and more changes will be needed to work through this consolidation.
This innovation is just the beginning.
What’s amazing is that the Revenue team knows they will need to attack some new challenges this year.
It doesn’t matter the office or the type of service—there is always work to be done and always something that can be innovated.
So, for this year—Keep that in mind.
No matter how many things you fixed last year, there are a ton more things you can do this year.
Start by taking a quick look at those letters you send out to your residents, businesses, visitors and citizens.
I am sure you can find a way to make them a little bit easier for your customer to understand and a little bit better for you to process.
Are you struggling to find some new places to focus your innovative energy…Join us for ICMA Innovation Bootcamp starting in February. The last class sold out…so sign up today.
Interested in innovating your workforce in 2026? Drop me a line for a free consultation here.
P.S. Interested in learning how process improvement can be done in hours instead of days or weeks? Click here to learn more about how my new company, rvrwrk (River Work), can help you.
P.P.S. January 2026 soundtrack: