Located on the Emerald Coast of Florida in the center of the panhandle, Walton County is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, including 16 certified Blue Wave Beaches. Bordered by Alabama on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, the County boasts 26 miles of Gulf Coast property. Walton County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state of Florida and is ranked as one of the top 65 fastest growing counties in the US. The county’s current population is approximately 60,000.
In 2004, the Tax Collector’s office was in need of a replacement for an outdated tax system that was not able to be updated to newer technology. After a bidding process, the County selected Manatron for their vast experience in the state of Florida and its up-to-date technology. The County realized that the Windows®-based MVP Tax could meet the current as well as future needs and requirements of the Tax Collectors office.
Rhonda Skipper, Walton County’s Tax Collector and her staff handle property tax billing and collection for the County’s 78,000 parcels, as well as motor vehicle and vessel registration, Hunting & Fishing license registration and beach permits. Between its two Tax Collector office locations, the County handles, on average, 10,000 transactions per month. In 2005, the County collected $126 million in tax bills – all on the Manatron MVP Tax system.
“We are very happy with the Manatron solution,” stated Chief Deputy Tax Collector, Cory Godwin. “Manatron MVP Tax is the product you want to go with today and Manatron customers will certainly benefit from new technologies they will offer in the future.”
By selecting MVP Tax, the Walton County Tax Collector’s office was able to implement several new processes including Web-based tax searches & collection and a high-speed remittance processing system.
Additionally, in 2006, the Tax Collector’s office conducted the County’s first Internet Tax Certificate Sale through Manatron’s partner Bid4Assets. Previously, tax certificates were sold at a live auction conducted at the courthouse and could take up to two weeks to complete the sale process. This year’s auction was completed in four hours and increased the number of bidders from 47 in 2005 to over 1,200. Sales increased from $1.9 million to over $3.3 million and over 900,000 bids were accepted. “It was an incredible success and we’re very pleased with the outcome of the sale” said Tax Collector Rhonda Skipper.
The County was grateful to have a Manatron support person to call directly to help them move smoothly through the process of integrating these systems. “Manatron’s support staff has always been very helpful when our staff calls with any type of question,” added Godwin. “They really go above and beyond to make sure that they help us with anything we need their assistance with."
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