|
Revenue head seeks common ground for communications
Secretary Kenneth Lay says he would like to have regular meetings with county officials
 |
Department of Revenue Secretary Kenneth Lay addressed the NCACC Board of Directors during its April 28 meeting. (Photo by Jason King) |
As one of its initiatives, the NCACC strategic goals team charged with "enhancing the state-county relationship through effective communication and the development of a working partnership" is interviewing members of Governor Beverly Perdue's Cabinet and Council of State. Interviews will be published in the next several issues of CountyLines.
In mid-May, team members sat down with Kenneth R. Lay, who was appointed Secretary of the Department of Revenue in January. His résumé includes more than 35 years of executive management experience, and he most recently worked at Bank of America in Charlotte in both marketing and IT positions.
How has your professional background prepared you to lead the Department of Revenue?
"I have had quite a number of experiences in my long, long, long, long career. I really consider myself more of a general manager. I have worked in finance, I have worked in IT, I have worked in marketing, I have worked in sales, I have worked in training and development, I have worked in HR. So, I have had quite a number of experiences. I think that this position calls for someone with some general manager background."
 What is the strongest talent you bring to managing this agency?
"The heart of any organization is the people, and no one person, no one leader, can do anything without the people. So the ability to tap into the talents of the organization – their energy, their thoughts – that's what is important. So the task at hand is to try to marshal all those resources and all the talents. And then help define what the next level of performance is and help the organization get there."
How can counties most effectively work with your department?
"One of the things that I think would help is having a very strong communication link between the counties and the Department of Revenue. I am not sure that we have a chance to sit down as much as we probably ought to. I think it would be really good if we had some sort of regularly scheduled, ongoing communications where we can discuss the issues of the day and maybe come up with some strategies as to how we can work together on various issues. I think it would lead to a much better understanding as well as a better understanding of issues at the county level, and the county having a better understanding of issues at the Department of Revenue level."
Are you thinking of any particular regular, ongoing communications?
"One of the things that you might ask would be, who should your normal contact point be? I would say the normal contact point would probably be the Assistant Secretary of Tax Administration. That's probably where the locus of information is, but then I would say maybe once or twice a year, the leadership of the county commission or the commission itself could meet with myself and my Chief Operating Officer, and during that time we could be putting together an agenda about what's important, what should we talk about, what does it take to move the ball forward, are there any issues. … Those things that get calendared get done."
How do you expect counties to interact and communicate with your administration?
"Just the way I mentioned. I have not had a lot of time to spend focusing on the counties in my 100 days. We have had this refund issue that we have been dealing with, but I did get a chance to speak to the county commissioners a few weeks ago (at an NCACC Board of Directors meeting). It would be important for me to understand and for us to understand how the county commissioners are organized, what are their areas of focus, what areas are common that we could talk about. I would imagine things around property tax, sales and use tax. It's probably especially sales and use tax since the money that we raised in sales tax, a lot of that goes back to the counties. There may be some things that we can talk about in terms of effectiveness and efficiency – those kinds of things – but it's only going to happen if we can get together and discuss those things."
In light of the current economic climate, what can North Carolina counties expect to see from your department in terms of programs and initiatives?
"There has been an increase in noncompliance so we are really, really focusing a lot of our energies on going after noncompliance. Some of that falls in the area of sales tax, which is probably an area that the county commissioners would be most concerned with. If we can put the right kind of energy around those sales tax issues, it will be not just beneficial to the state but also beneficial to the counties."
What steps will your administration take to strengthen and improve the existing relationship between your agency and county government in North Carolina?
"I think if we can jointly find a way to have forums where we can meet and discuss issues, I think that might be one idea. I'd like to hear what other ideas people have and what ideas the county commissioners have. I spoke with the chair of the county board in Charlotte (Mecklenburg County Chairman Jennifer Roberts) just to find out what her view of the State Department of Revenue is, what some of her issues are, and I came back with a different view. So I think if we as a department can do more of that, if we can reach out and talk to some people and understand what the issues are, it will give us a sense of where we might be able to focus some of our energy."
What do you consider are the greatest challenges facing your department?
"The greatest challenge facing the department now is the current economic climate. As you know for the next biennium we have approximately a $10 billion deficit and it's going to call for all of us to think about this a little bit differently. There will be budget cuts, because there will have to be. … I've said for years, you cannot save your way to prosperity. Sooner or later you have to generate some revenue. ... There are some things that we could do better and we will do better.
"We have a 15-year-old IT tax system that is pretty antiquated in IT terms, so we are implementing a new IT system and it is going to take us three years to do that. That is going to enable us to identify several more sources of revenue that are hard to get at now because we have to do it manually. So I think there are some things that we can do operationally to make better. In addition to that our tax laws are over 75 years old. They were written in a very different time in a time that was not reflective of the economy we have today. So I think we – and I mean the collective – we have to take a real hard look at that. And take a look at what the right tax legislation should be for our current economic environment and current economy."
You talked about the sales tax and revenue that the State is not able to capture due to the current IT system. Is it possible that some companies and some small businesses have not been fully educated on how the system works?
"I think that there are many, many reasons for this. Some have to do with business education. That is why classes are being run through the community colleges that help small businesses figure these things out. Some are doing the best they can. There are others that are engaging in income shifting strategies, and they are doing it with the help of their accountants and tax lawyers."
What do you hope to accomplish within your department?
"We have five strategic pillars: First, maximizing compliance and generating revenue. Second, operational excellence. Third, improving customer service. Fourth, maximizing the public trust. And fifth, creating an innovative customer-centric culture. Our goal is to see if we can raise the level of our game and in two to three years see if we are in an entirely different place on those five strategic pillars than where we are today.
"We want to significantly improve voluntary compliance and we want to significantly improve revenue generation. We have taken a real hard look at our operation and as good as we are, we have seen multiple ways we can be much, much better. We are really moving into an e-business environment where our taxpayers and businesses will have much better communications with the department. Many more things will be online. We're going to improve our Web services for taxpayers whether that be business or individual. We are going to do much, much more in terms of educating the public, so if we can stay true to our strategy – and I am sure we will – we will be operating at a different level three years from now."
As you transition into your new role, what information, materials or contacts would you like to have from county government or the NCACC to help with your oversight of your programs?
"I don't have to tell you that we find ourselves in a time that is unprecedented. We are all are going to get out of this by working together. So the more that we can get together and share information and share issues, it will help create a common ground. Once you have created a common ground, we can collectively find a way through some of this stuff. But it's going to take a lot of teamwork. So any time either I or my COO can sit down with the leadership of the NCACC would be terrific, and if we can do it on a regular basis I think that would help even more."
|
