2. 2
1. Abstract of the Program (approximately 3/4 page)................................................... 3
2. The Problem/Need for the Program (approximately 3/4 page)................................ 4
3. Description of the Program (approximately 2 to 3 pages) ........................................ 5
4. Use of Technology (approximately 1/4 page).............................................................. 7
5. The Cost of the Program (approximately 3/4 page to 1 page) .................................. 8
6. The Results/Success of the Program (approximately 3/4 to 1 page) ........................ 9
7. Worthiness of an Award (approximately 1/4 to 1/2 page)....................................... 11
3. 3
1. Abstract of the Program (approximately 3/4 page)
The concept of a Business Service Center (BSC) was the product of a business license
benchmarking effort initiated by Richland County in October 2003. Participating in this
effort were seven of the eight counties in South Carolina with business license programs, and
four cities. Other outside organizations also interested in this benchmarking effort were the
Department of Revenue and the University of South Carolina’s Institute for Public Service &
Policy Research. This benchmarking effort for the business licenses highlighted the need for
a streamlined approach to providing services to businesses.
The Business Service Center addresses some fundamental concerns by the County regarding
the service provision to businesses. Until recently, businesses had to visit many locations to
obtain various licenses and permits, and pay various taxes and fees, in order to operate
lawfully within Richland County. The Business Service Center consolidated these activities
in one location to improve the convenience to businesses, improve coordination by the
County among its various databases, and make it easier for businesses to comply with
applicable regulations.
The dramatic change is exhibited best in pictures:
BEFORE AFTER
4. 4
2. The Problem/Need for the Program (approximately 3/4 page)
The initial benchmarking effort involved a thorough review of how business license operations
are conducted. This led Richland County to investigate how the County provides services to
businesses. It quickly became evident that the County needed to improve the efficiency of its
services to the business community by creating a convenient one-stop-shop. This required
consolidating the issuance of different licenses and permits as well as the collection of certain
taxes and fees that businesses need to have and pay. These licenses and permits include
business licenses, fireworks licenses, and peddlers’ licenses. Fees collected include those
associated with these licenses as well as Hospitality Taxes, Tourism Development Fees, and
others.
With the decentralization of the various County business requirements, there could be little or no
cooperation among the various departments responsible for them. Conversely, now the Business
Service Center can serve as the starting point for the Hazardous Materials and Precious Metals
permit processes. Additionally, it was extremely difficult for businesses to be held responsible
for meeting all applicable requirements, such as being current in its Hospitality Tax payments,
before being issued a business license.
The locations for these business activities had been traditionally scattered in buildings within a
large downtown area. Now, however, the Business Service Center is conveniently located in
office space that was made available on the first floor of the main County Administration
Building within just a few feet of the Permitting and Zoning divisions of the Planning
Department. This convenient location essentially achieves the goal of offering a one-stop shop
for most businesses.
Another problem that needed to be addressed was that the County endured many irregularities
and inconsistencies in fee determination and overall compliance due to the fact that the County
had been outsourcing the collection and enforcement of its business licenses for the prior 18
years.
Communication challenges are often associated with outsourcing, and it was a part of this
outsourcing as well. These challenges had great impact on the County’s knowledge of its own
business license operations. The County believed it was critical to have a solid understanding of
its own business license operations, and fundamental element in ensuring that the operations
were being administered in as efficient, effective, and financially sound manner as possible. As
a wise management guru once observed, “It’s hard to know where you’re going if you don’t
know where you are.”
5. 5
Another aspect of communication was the lack of meaningful communication between the
County and the business community. This historically was limited to an annual mailing
informing business of the need to renew their license. There was no website to proactively
provide information, solicit feedback, provide forms, or allow online payments. The County,
now administering its own business activities, continues to develop a website to serve as the
dominant information source for businesses and allow online calculations of business license
renewals, greatly increasing the convenience to businesses as well as reducing the burden on
staff by walk-in applications.
3. Description of the Program (approximately 2 to 3 pages)
The Business Service Center has three primary functions: (1) to improve the convenience to
businesses, (2) to improve the coordination of County databases, and (3) to improve business
compliance with applicable business regulations.
The convenience to businesses is enhanced in a number of different ways. The location for
issuing different licenses and permits and collecting taxes and fees that businesses need to
pay for is being consolidated. These licenses will include business licenses, fireworks
licenses, and peddlers’ licenses. When businesses need to obtain Hazardous Materials
permits or Precious Metals permits, the Business Service Center would serve as the starting
point for the application process. Businesses can obtain these applications from the Business
Service Center while doing other business. Additionally, the Business Service Center is
located in the main County Administration building, increasing the convenience to
businesses to take care of other business while they are there.
The website is another mechanism the County uses to increase the convenience to businesses.
A substantial part of the website involves providing important information to businesses, and
is the dominant communication vehicle for providing such critical information. This
information includes frequently asked questions, different kinds of forms, breaking news,
resources and links to other valuable business organizations and agencies, and other types of
information.
The website also currently allows online calculations of business license renewals, allowing
businesses to be certain of the fee that needs to be paid. Online payments through credit card
or electronic check transactions will be implemented shortly and will dramatically increase
the convenience to businesses by providing twenty-four hour service from the convenience of
their own location. Online renewals will also have the additional benefit of reducing the
amount of staff time necessary to process renewals.
Another aspect of convenience is in the payments themselves. With one department handling
all the licenses, permits, fees, and taxes associated with businesses, payments may be
consolidated. For example, if a business owner has three properties, owes Hospitality Taxes
on one property and owes a Tourism Development fee on another property, these fees will be
able to be paid at one time and with one payment, whether online, mailed in, or by walk-in.
6. 6
There is also an important element of coordination to the Richland County Business Service
Center. The County has many different databases serving the County’s many different
departments. The Business Service Center coordinates the payment of fees and the issuance
of licenses and permits with these databases.
Some examples provide a clear picture of this coordination. A business wishing to renew a
business license must first be confirmed as having paid its Business Personal Property Taxes.
An individual operating from their home wishing to obtain a business license must first be
confirmed as having paid the property taxes for their home before being issued a business
license. A business owing Hospitality Taxes must first pay off all these funds before a
business license is issued. Any business or individual due a refund by the County for some
reason will first be determined whether it owes any money to the County for some other
reason. If so, the amount owed will be deducted from the refund prior to the refund being
issued.
The coordination extends beyond the County’s own databases. Other relationships are being
developed with the State of South Carolina’s own online business service center, called
Business One Stop. Further, there is cooperation between the County and the State
Department of Revenue and the Department of Consumer Affairs. Other State agencies will
also be added to the Business Service Center’s sphere of interaction.
Compliance efforts are naturally enhanced by the increase in coordination. As a business
renews or applies for a business license, the business is required to meet all other applicable
requirements before being issued its business license. Being able to withhold the issuance of
a business license is powerful leverage for the County, and the effectiveness of this leverage
is used for maximum effect through the Business Service Center. The County’s many
databases will be cross-referenced to verify that businesses contained within those databases
have business licenses.
County databases are not the only resource being tapped into by the Business Service Center.
The coordination with other State agencies will result in more businesses being discovered.
For example, beauticians must register with the State Board of Cosmetology. By cooperating
with the State Department of Labor and Licensing Regulations to determine the businesses
registered with them, this list can be cross-referenced with businesses with business licenses.
The future of the Business Service Center is a bright one, and represents an outstanding
achievement for Richland County and the business community. With careful consideration
of the many different resources and organizations involved, the Business Service Center will
continue to grow and develop in ways that benefit the County as well as the greater Richland
County community.
7. 7
4. Use of Technology (approximately 1/4 page)
Genius and elegance in delivering complex solutions is in how architecture is made simple.
One of the benefits the Richland County IT Department has is that we have standardized on
our technology platforms for all new development. Our tools of choice are Microsoft
ASP.NET and VB.NET for programming, Microsoft SQL Server for database access,
Microsoft Project Server for project management, ESRI ArcGIS Server for mapping, OTG
for document image storage and retrieval, Crystal Reports for reporting and Atalasoft’s
document image viewer for document printing and viewing. There was also a comprehensive
data conversion from the system of the County’s prior outsourcer to our new system.
`
Database Server
`
ArcGIS Server
`
ArcSDE Server
`
Imaging Server
`
DataBroker
`
Application Server
SQL Server
Stored Procedures
House for Business Data
Web Services
Crystal Reports OTG Imaging Software
House for GIS Data
(e.g. Business Layer)
GIS Web Services
GIS Applications
Main Application for Business Service Center
AtalaSoft. Image Viewer
`
Project Server
8. 8
5. The Cost of the Program (approximately 3/4 page to 1 page)
The financial impact in undertaking a Business Service Center depends upon the scope and
level of the services provided. Every effort was made to make as studied a projection as
possible on both the start-up costs and annual costs. The cost for operating the BSC at its
beginning, with three employees and the associated start-up costs, is estimated to be
$170,071 for the eight months beginning November 2005 and ending June 2006.
The annual costs of operating the BSC are naturally expected to increase as the BSC
becomes fully staffed and developed during the next fiscal year.
In prior years, Richland County had an Agreement with the City of Columbia to be our
outsourced agent to collect the County’s business licenses. The County paid the City several
hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for this service. The table below shows prior
actual amounts that were paid to the City of Columbia for the outsourcing agreement. The
last column in the table shows the requested and approved budgeted amount for the County’s
new Business Service Center for this fiscal year.
Actual Actual Actual Actual Approved Requested Approved
Requested
for BSC
Account
Description
2000 -
2001
2001 -
2002
2002 -
2003
2003 -
2004
2004 -
2005 2005 - 2006
2005 -
2006
eight
months of
2005 - 2006
Special Contracts-
City Business
License 249,302 256,510 294,171 292,297 318,415 370,292 318,415 170,071
We believe that, in this and future years, the County will be able to provide services to
businesses at a lower cost. Additionally, it is anticipated that the County will collect
substantially more fees by conducting more inspections and collecting unpaid fees from
various departments prior to issuing a new business license. This undertaking will more than
pay for itself through increased revenue and efficiencies while simultaneously improving
operational excellence for the County and its businesses.
9. 9
6. The Results/Success of the Program (approximately 3/4 to 1 page)
Benefits:
Improved operations:
- County business licenses at current operational levels yield roughly $5.5
million.
- We know the $5.5 million dollar figure without the benefit of having the
needed information to audit this amount.
- By administering its own operations, the County will have more information
to better understand and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of those
operations.
Better compliance:
- In 2004, only seven (7) Precious Metal permits were issued, generating $350
at $50 each.
- Precious Metal permits are required by any business which, in short, sells
gold, silver, platinum, or precious or semiprecious stones, such as jewelry
stores as well as pawn shops selling jewelry.
- Using the phone book and the online GIS system, roughly 32 businesses are in
the unincorporated areas of the county that would need this permit.
- This represents a 457% increase from 2004, and would generate $1250 more
dollars, an increase of 357%.
Better enforcement:
- The Hazardous Materials (HazMat) manager estimates that the 488 current
Hazardous Materials permits issued in 2005 represent roughly only 20% of
the businesses that should have HazMat permits.
- Using this estimate, roughly 878 businesses should have HazMat permits.
- This may have significant revenue implications. Prior year collections were
only $52,800. But it may have even more substantial and important
implications for public safety in Richland County.
Better coordination:
- By the BSC tapping into the various County databases, this will help staff
ensure greater compliance by businesses in obtaining required fees and
permits.
- For example, a business requesting to renew a business license will also be
required to obtain all other required permits and licenses before being issued a
business license.
10. 10
Better cooperation:
- The BSC is intended to help Richland County and various State agencies
cooperate and share business-related information for improved compliance.
- For example, in September 2003, an informal survey of Decker Blvd. found
that, of the 216 businesses that were found to have a physical presence on the
street, roughly only 74, or 34% of businesses, were found to be in both the
City and the Department of Revenue business databases.
Project methodology:
- The Project Management Lifecycle was used to manage the project and as a
result, the project was delivered on time and within budget. Once the project
was initiated, many years went into planning the project. The project plan was
executed and controlled by managing scope, time, cost, quality, human
resource, communication, risk, and procurement. The first phase of the
Business Service Center was able to close as a tremendous success. We have
received many glowing compliments from the businesses that have walked in.
We received comments such as the following paraphrased sentences. “Finally,
this should have been done a long time ago.” Another comment was “You
have saved me from making two trips. I only do business in the
unincorporated county, and I used to have to go visit both the city and
county. Now I only have to make one stop. Thank you.” The businesses are
also finding it very convenient to be able to walk just a few feet away and be
able to talk to Planning and Zoning.
11. 11
7. Worthiness of an Award (approximately 1/4 to 1/2 pages)
It is not often that a project is completed on time, within budget, and also has the added
benefit of serving the community in a very positive manner. The concept of having the
constituents of Richland County go to one place and be able to pay for multiple services is a
long time in coming. Not to mention the fact that the County can more efficiently collect
funds. The fact that we are collecting GIS information on each new business and
automatically storing that as a GIS layer will give us the capability to later display all the
businesses and their locations on an online map. The ability to query things like “show me all
the restaurants show me all the service stations and where they are located or show me the
nearest pharmacy” becomes easy to do. The GIS component becomes even more important
in light of public safety concerns, such as identifying where all the businesses with
Hazardous Materials permits are located.
While requirements were done over the last year, official approval to proceed was not
obtained until October of last year. At that time the Business Service Center only existed on
paper. Under a contract deadline to be up and running on January 3rd
of 2006, a team was
quickly assembled consisting of five developers, a project manager, one network engineer, a
GIS analyst, and a new department head also serving as the primary business analyst. They
created a brand new department in two months with desks, phones, carpet, PCs, scanner,
printer, two new employees and a fully functional custom-written business license software
system. The new software system is a state-of-the-art system written by in-house staff that is
integrated with GIS and imaging, and is totally web-based, including a web-based cashiering
module.
Many thought that not only were we crazy but that there was no way we could get this all
done in the short time we had. Not only did we get it done but it was done with minimal
issues and met all the requirements we set out to accomplish. As of the writing of this
submittal, we have collected 490 fees for a total of $61,239.90. This is also significant
because now, the County KNOWS its progress on collections, and can proactively take
measures to assist revenues meeting budgetary projections while there is still time to avert an
adverse financial impact.
