Whether you love or hate them, local taxes and fees are critical sources of revenue that pay for good roads, clean water and safe communities. To help protect these funds, MuniServices, one of the nation’s leading municipal tax auditors, has partnered with attorney Ben Fay to advise its city and county clients on the legal application of their local ordinances, and to help protect them against social and economic changes.
Fay, a partner at Jarvis Fay Doporto & Gibson, has spent the last 20 years helping local governments throughout California legally defend their taxes, fees and assessments. In addition to being well known for his special expertise in property tax allocations, Fay regularly advises his clients on the application of Propositions 26 and 218. This experience is what made Fay such a great fit for MuniServices.
“Working with MuniServices is a great opportunity to continue helping cities and counties preserve local tax revenue,” said Fay. “My goal is to not only help ensure local ordinances are legally viable, but to protect revenue sources from changing laws and harmful legislation. My work dovetails perfectly with MuniServices’, and because of that, it’s a great partnership.”
Through the partnership, Fay will help ensure MuniServices’ clients apply local tax and fee ordinances appropriately, helping them avoid heavy opposition and in-depth legal disputes. He will be paying special attention to utility user and transient occupancy taxes, and will advise cities and counties on how to amend ordinances to adapt to changes in technology and consumer preferences.
“While much of our work focuses on the auditing and revenue recovery process, we pay special attention to the broader issues impacting our city and county clients,” said Fran Mancia, MuniServices’ vice president of government relations. “Working with partners like Ben, and having his expertise augment the efforts of our full-time government relations staff is very important because what happens at the judicial and legislative levels has a great impact on the success we can achieve for our clients.”
In addition to providing client-based legal support, Fay will be working with MuniServices’ government relations team to analyze proposed state legislation and identify potential impacts the bills could have on municipal revenue if passed. MuniServices is the only municipal tax consulting firm that has full-time staff, including an in-house lobbyist, dedicated to proposing good policy and opposing legislation that could harm the long-term viability of California’s cities and counties.
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MuniServices is a leading provider of revenue recovery services. With over 900 cities, counties, special districts, and states as clients, MuniServices is the only firm in California and throughout the United States to offer proprietary revenue recovery, audit and administration services encompassing all general sources of municipal tax revenue. Learn more at muniservices.com.