Franklin County, Ohio Uses Address Verification Software to Collect Millions in Unpaid Taxes

Mailing 435,000 property tax bills is a big enough task with a staff of eight. But two years ago when Phyllis Roberts noticed nearly 14,000 returned bills, the Franklin County (Ohio) Treasurer's Office customer service supervisor knew the department could be more diligent.

"Ultimately it's our job to get that bill to the taxpayer," said Roberts, who blamed most of the returned mail issues on clerical errors and an aging real-estate computer system. "We could type in Timbuktu and it didn't care. If it was a new ZIP code, it wouldn't recognize it..."