EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: February 1, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Jaime M. Fontes, City Manager
BY: Tomohito Oku, Finance Director
Greg Henry, Senior Management Analyst
SUBJECT: Issuing a Request for Proposals for Business License and Tax Administration Services
Recommendation
Review and direct the City Manager to issue the Request for Proposal (RFP) Business License and Tax Administration Services.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 2: Enhance Economic Vitality
Priority No. 3: Increase Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Background
The current business license system is labor intensive for staff, with 12 percent of the Finance Departments total staff hours (or .75 of a full-time employee) annually committed to managing business licenses. The current intake process is completely manual with citizens completing a paper form (and mailing it in or delivering in person) which is then transcribed into the City’s Business License software by staff. Annually, for the renewal and to process the business license tax, businesses must complete a paper form to calculate what is owed. Staff has found that 10 to 15 percent of businesses that mail in their renewals complete the form incorrectly, leading to additional staff time reaching out to those businesses and correcting the information and asking for a new payment.
Analysis
The purpose of this RFP is to find a business license and tax administration services. The services being requested through this RFP will improve the customer experience. The RFP requires that the new business license and tax administration service include an online portal where citizens will be able to:
· Determine if they have an active business license are up to date on their fees. · Complete an online form to file for or review their license. · Print their license if it’s up to date.
· Provide businesses with their annual business license tax amount (once they submit their gross receipts), with no calculations required by businesses. · Pay using a credit card (should they so desire). Cash and Check payments will continue to be accepted.
This additional online functionality has been requested by many of our businesses and will reduce staff overhead and simplify compliance with City code for local business.
In addition to the improved customer experience to be provided by the online portal, migrating the day to day aspects of this function from City staff to a contractor will allow staff to:
· Focus on preparing for the planned Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation and other higher-level work.
· Develop the underlying Credit Card policies necessary for a broader Credit Card roll out and act as a test case.
· Reduce the size of the planned ERP, improving timeline and likelihood of a successful implementation.
· Place business licenses under a single department (Finance) while currently it is shared between City Hall staff and Tate Street staff. This simplifies processes and improves internal controls.
Fiscal Impact
There is no cost to release the RFP.
Public Notice
N/A
Environmental
No environmental impacts.
Attachments
1. City of East Palo Alto - RFP Business License Services