NBS was retained by the County of Salt Lake to provide billing, mailing, collecting, and administrative functions for the establishment of the Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Service Area (SLVLESA). The SLVLESA would cover more than 43,000 property owners and 2,000 businesses. Like many public agencies during this recession, the County faced a severe budget gap due to a 30% plunge in sales tax revenue. Without a new source of revenue, they would have needed to eliminate 60% of the police officers dedicated to the unincorporated areas of the County. The solution was to implement a Police Fee to provide most of the $13 million in revenue needed to preserve police services.

Because of the number of parcels within the SLVLESA, the County needed a firm that could manage such a large project. The County was unable to find a local consultant with the resources or capacity to take on such a large number of billings. The County then reached out nationwide and found that NBS had the resources, technology and staff in place to take on the project with confidence.

There were many unknowns as the fee was being implemented, since a Police Fee had never before been implemented in the State of Utah, but NBS’s experience with special districts ensured that the fee was implemented successfully, from conception to execution. In particular, NBS was able to:

  • Partner with the County to research requirements and establish policy
  • Create and manage the property database, licensing database, and fee structure
  • Bill the fee in three installments to over 43,000 property owners and 2,000 businesses
  • Implement a call center for the County to answer over 15,000 inquiries from citizens during the first year
  • Coordinate the certification of delinquencies for placement on the County tax roll for collection with the following year’s property tax bill

The County of Salt Lake was able to implement and bill Utah’s first Police Fee. NBS’s experience with special districts and ability to take on large, complex projects as an out-of-state consultant were essential to the project’s success.

“We could not have selected a better partner than NBS for the Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Service Area. The professionalism, expertise, and friendliness of the NBS team is a winning combination.” *  – Kerri Nakamura, Advisor to Council Member Jim Bradley, Salt Lake County

* This testimonial is not related to any municipal advisory services performed by NBS.