by Mike Sharkey, Staff Writer
When Mike Hogan was elected Tax Collector four years ago, one of his first objectives was to bring the office into the 21st century. Wednesday, Hogan — who ran unopposed — was sworn in for a second term and now gets four more years to complete the projects he hasn’t finished.
He also gets four more years to stay in the public’s eye — something that will benefit Hogan should he make good on his rumored mayoral run in 2011.
“There are a lot of things to still focus on, but I have always had the desire to one day be mayor,” said Hogan, after being sworn in by Clay County Circuit Court Judge Mac Crenshaw. “Maybe I’ll run in 2011, maybe not. If I’m going to do it, I will have to make the decision about two-and-a-half years before the election.”
As a Constitutional officer, Hogan is not subject to term limits and could seek re-election as Tax Collector for as long as he wants the job.
During his first four years, Hogan implemented several technological changes and has concentrated on improving the office’s customer service. Originally only in the Yates Building branch, every Tax Collector’s office now has an automated system that assigns customers numbers and informs them which window is serving that number.
“There’s a lot to finish,” said Hogan, who was sworn in with many family members and several employees on hand. “Mechanizing all the data bases is very important. We have gotten a good start on that. We had to change the system. It was 30 years old.
“We are still working on customer service. We want to be able to get people in and out in a reasonable amount of time. I have some new ideas for the next four years.”
Hogan said one of his main objectives is to integrate all of the branch offices in an effort to determine “hot spots.” He said making sure each branch is operating efficiently is a top priority. Being able to see that six employees are trying to deal with 50 customers in one branch as opposed to six employees dealing with 10 customers will allow his office to make the necessary changes to equalize the work load.
The office also recently started allowing customers to use their debit cards to pay various taxes. Hogan said the credit card companies wanted too high a fee and he didn’t want to pass that fee along to the taxpayers.
“The debit card is much cheaper,” said Hogan. ”The taxpayer doesn’t mind paying $1.50, but they certainly mind paying 2 percent of a tax bill that may be several hundred dollars.”
Hogan said he also intends to implement a grading system for the office’s customer service. Customers will be asked to fill out a simple survey and grade their service on a scale from A-F.
“We do get complaints, but we also get compliments. The compliments outweigh the complaints by about 20 to 1,” said Hogan. “We want to find out exactly what the customers think. Some people leave and never say anything, even if the service is bad. If a customer gives us an F because it took 45 minutes, I’d say we have a problem. If a customer gave us an F because they didn’t like the amount of their taxes, I’d say it is what it is.”
Budget-wise Hogan is feeling the pinch also. However, he has already made the necessary cuts and those cuts didn’t affect any positions in the office. He did close one branch, but reassigned the employees and won’t be able to open another planned branch.