CC SR 20151117 F - UUT Refund UpdateCITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES
MEMORANDUM
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
FROM: DEBORAH CULLEN, FINANCE DIRECTOR
DATE: NOVEMBER 17, 2015
SUBJECT: UTILITY USER TAX (UUT) REFUND UPDATE
REVIEWED: DOUG WILLMORE, CITY MANAGER ~
Project Manager: Allan Kaufman, Senior Administrative Analyst OJ.\
RECOMMENDATION
1. Pay the 11 Utility User Tax (UUT) deficient refund claims that were unsigned, but had
no other deficiency; and
2. Mail a deficiency UUT claim reminder to residents for the remaining 719 deficient claims.
The reminder would give residents an additional 30 days to provide the necessary
information and/or make the needed corrections to their claim to receive a refund.
FISCAL IMPACT
Budgeted Amount:
Fiscal Impact to Date:
Additional Appropriation:
Account Number:
$713,468
$496,157
$0
101-6000-315-XX-XX
Fiscal impact to pay the 11 deficient refund claims is an additional $360. This covers the
refund amount only, as the check printing and mailing responsibility will be handled by the
City.
The additional estimated cost for the claim administrator, Gilardi & Co LLC, to mail out the
deficient claim reminders would be $7,465. This amount includes: printing, postage and
processing time. This cost estimate also assumes a processing time of 10 minutes per
claim, and that 75% of the deficient claims will be corrected and returned.
Although 75% of claims being corrected and returned has been used as an estimate, it is
still difficult to quantify exactly how many of the 719 deficient claims will be paid and the
total refund amount associated with them.
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Utility User Tax (UUT) Refund Update
November 17, 2015
Page 2 of 3
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
On October 6 , 2015, Staff pro vi ded the C ity Counc il w ith Ut ili ty User Tax (UUT ) refund cla im
data that included the number of va lid claims processed, number of c laims by c la im type
(physica l or on li ne ) and tota l refund amount pa id . At th is meet ing, Counci lmember
Campbe ll requested that Staff come back w ith add it iona l information on the 719
outstand ing claims deemed defic ient (e ither m iss ing information or not comp leted
correct ly).
Based on the figures prov ided by the C ity's cla im adm inistrator, most of the inva li d c la ims
conta ined mu lt ip le defic ienc ies. Defic ienc ies ranged from not complet ing t he land li ne
and /or w ire less account informat ion, leaving the second page blank (show n as "A ll
Transact ions Blank" in the fol low ing table ) to not s ign ing the cla im form. There were on ly
11 c la ims w here the lone defic iency was the c la im not being s igned .
Of" e 1c1ency Cl . F" aim 1gures
Deficiency Type
Landline Account Wire less Account
Refund(s) Se lected
Info Incomplete 1 Info Incomplete 2
Land li ne -Flat Refu nd 173 175 W ire less -Flat Refu nd
Land li ne -Exact Refu nd 6 6 W ire less -Exact Refund
Land line -Extrapo lated Refund 3 3 Wi re less -Extrapolated Refund
La ndlin e -Flat Refund 2 2 Wi reless -Extrapolated Refund
Landl ine -No Option Selected 0 121 W ireless - Flat Refund
Land li ne -No Opti on Se lected 0 1 W ire less -Exact Refu nd
La ndli ne -No Op ti on Selected 0 1 Wire less -Extrapolated Refund
La ndline -Flat Refund 124 0 W ireless -No Refund Option Se lected
Landl in e Exact Refund 4 0 W ireless -No Refund Option Se lected
Land li ne Extrapolated Refund 2 0 W ire less -No Refund Option Se lected
No Refu nd Opt io n Se lected 0 0
Grand Total 314 309
One of the follo>Mng was not provided: telecom company, account number, or service address.
One of the fo llo>Mng was not provided: telecom company, account number, or billing address.
Landline and/or Wireless information was not provided nor was a refund option selected.
All Transactions
Blank 3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
278
278
Count of Not Signed Refund Type
12 177
0 6
1 4
0 2
2 123
0 1
1 2
10 127
1 4
0 2
81 282 -108 730
Res idents w ere gi ve n six (6 ) months to comp lete and subm it a va li d c la im form to receive
a ref und c heck . In addit ion, defic iency letters were sent to res idents whose cla im was either
incomp lete or in need of correct ion . The letter pro vi ded residents 30 days to "cure" the ir
de fi c iency in order to rece iv e a refund .
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Utility User Tax (UUT) Refund Update
November 17, 2015
Page 3 of 3
If the City Council approves Staff's recommendation, refund checks for the 11 deficient
claims will be mailed within a few days. For the remaining 719 deficient claims, reminder
notices will be mailed to residents in approximately two weeks. Upon receipt of the
reminders, residents will have until the end of December 2015 to correct their claims.
Based on this time estimate, refund checks should be distributed sometime in January
2016.
Attachment
Administration Cost Estimate -Deficient Claim Reminder (page 4)
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November 12, 2015
Allan Kaufman
City of Rancho Palos Verdes
Matter: Telecommunication Utility User Tax Refund -Administration Cost Estimate
DEFICIENCY WORK -COST ESTIMATE SUMMARY
KEY ASSUMPTIONS:
1 -Print and Mail 730 Deficiency Letters to Class Members
2 -Process Deficiency Responses
SERVICES Unit Rate
Deficiency Processing
Estimated # of Deficient Claims
Print/mail Deficiency Notices (includes postage)
Estimated # of Deficiency Responses
Minutes per Deficiency
Staff Hours Handling Deficient Claims
Subtotal Deficiency Processing
10
$
$
1.50
75%
70.00
Volume
730
730
548
91 hr
Cost TOTAL
$1,095
6,370
$7,465
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