This summer, MuniServices, one of the nation’s leading providers of tax audit and revenue recovery services for local municipalities, renewed its contract for sales and use tax auditing with the City of Ceres. Through the agreement, MuniServices will continue to review and analyze the City’s sales and use taxes, a source that makes up more than 20% of the City’s general fund revenue.

Currently, the sales and use tax in the City of Ceres is 8.125%. In FY 14/15, the City received more than $3.8 million in revenue from this source, and is projected to exceed $4.6 million for FY 15/16. As part of the contract, MuniServices analyzes communities of similar size and demographics, and projects how much customers will spend and expected sales tax revenue.  

“Working with cities like this is very rewarding,” said Mary Flynn, Client Services Manager for MuniServices. “Often, the revenue we discover is needed much more, and can really impact the day-to-day lives of the community. An extra $150,000 goes a long way for a smaller city, and it feels good to be able to support them in this manner.”

In addition to Ceres, MuniServices renewed its contract with another Central Valley city, Stockton. Through its contract with the City of Stockton, MuniServices will audit the City’s hotel tax and business licensing tax, with the objective to discover underreported taxes. These two sources represent more than 6% of Stockton’s general fund revenue. In FY 14/15, the City collected $2.1 million in hotel taxes, and $9.2 million in business licensing taxes. The two projects will be led by MuniServices’ Client Services Manager Mary Flynn and Assistant Vice President Bret Harmon.

“This continued partnership has a notable impact on the Stockton’s budget. Recovering revenue that the City is already entitled to allows it to avoid raising taxes unnecessarily while still funding the services that are essential to the quality-of-life of its residents,” said Bret Harmon, MuniServices’ Assistant Vice President of Client Services.

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With more than 900 cities, counties, and special districts as clients, MuniServices is the nation’s leading provider of proprietary revenue recovery, audit and administration services encompassing all general sources of municipal tax revenue.  To learn more about MuniServices and its revenue recovery services, visit www.muniservices.com.