Contracting proposal pulled off agenda after lobbying efforts from Bargaining Unit 1 members
3:28 PM - August 23, 2012

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Because of the lobbying strength of our members, the Board of Equalization (BOE) announced Tuesday it has shelved a proposal to outsource some accounts receivable collections to a private firm.

The original proposal called for a portion of uncollected accounts receivable to be outsourced to an undisclosed private vendor. Ever since this came to light, Local 1000 members and staff have pressured BOE to drop the proposal because this type of outsourcing doesn’t save money and private collection agencies are less accountable.
One day before the proposal was scheduled to go for board approval, BOE announced via email: “…we have removed the Contracting Out Receivables element from the Accounts Receivable Board Change Proposal.”

BOE officials said they would like to work with Local 1000 to find a way to collect these unpaid funds. For more than five years, Local 1000 has argued for increased resources and efforts to close the “tax gap” – an estimated $1.8 billion that remains uncollected. Studies by Local 1000’s Research Department have shown that each new tax collector hired nets the state an estimated $340,000 a year.

Although we won today, it is important that we remain vigilant because BOE will likely resurrect this issue in the future.


In solidarity,

Tamekia N. Robinson
Vice President for Organizing/Representation