Collection Specialist

An employee in this class is responsible for collecting real estate taxes, personal property taxes, assessments, water bills, parking tickets, false alarm fees, garnishments, debt set offs and business license. The employee answers the phone calls for the Tax Department and the main switch board for the City, assigns parking rentals for lot spaces for Downtown Burlington, and bills false alarm fees for the Burlington Police Department. Emphasis of the work is on processing payment, opening and sorting mail between all tellers, greeting customers and assisting with any questions or directions to departments, receiving incoming calls and transferring to appropriate department, issuing business licenses throughout the year, and entering all information for citations every day.  This position requires considerable independence of action, judgment, and initiative to accomplish short and long term objectives. Some judgment is required in applying applicable City, County, State and Federal codes, regulations, ordinance pertinent to revenue collections. Work is performed under direction of the Revenue Collection Supervisor and is evaluated on the basis of achieving planned objectives, reports, and conferences. This classification is considered non-exempt in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

• Processes payments and notifies water billing for cycles that are ready for disconnection
• Opens and sorts mail between all tellers
• Greets customers and assists with any questions that they might have
• Receives incoming calls and transfers them to appropriate departments; handles general information calls
• Issues business licenses throughout the year; determines whether a license is required based on type of the business
• Enters all information for citations including, date, time, officer who issues the citation, location, violation, description of vehicle and tag number
• Sends delinquent notices by finding offenders through the NCDOT
• Assigns parking spaces
• Sends out invoices for Police Department and handles all the collections of the alarms
• Mails out final notices to delinquent tax payers
• Sends debt set off notices
• Prepares or provides technical assistance on a variety of administrative and/or collections-related questions; solves collections issues that technicians might have including questions, concerns, customer related issues, and payments
• Performs related duties as required

• Thorough knowledge of City codes, laws, regulations, and policies related to licensing, billing, collection, and customer service function
• Considerable knowledge of principal, methods, and practice of account and statistical recordkeeping
• Ability to effectively represent the City's billing and collection, and customer service functions with concerned individuals, organizations, and other government agencies as delegated
• Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing
• Ability to work with the public in a respectable manner
• Ability to handle stressful situations
• Ability to solve disputes with tact and firmness
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationship with City employees, and the general public 

Education and Experience
High School Diploma or GED Equivalency with specialized training in finance or accounting or any other field, and some work experience in customer service or field operations work, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.Physical Requirements and Working Conditions
Work in this class is described as being sedentary and seldom requires much physical exertion to complete tasks.  Work typically involves the ability to physically perform the basic life operational functions of reaching, fingering, grasping, feeling, talking, hearing and repetitive motions. Employee regularly operates a variety of machinery and equipment, including telephones, computers, calculators, copiers, facsimile machines, etc. Work necessitates visual acuity to determine the accuracy, neatness, and thoroughness of work assigned in preparing and analyzing figures, accounting, transcription, computer terminal viewing and extensive reading.  Working conditions include inside environmental conditions.
 
Special Requirements

• Valid North Carolina Driver's License

Inclement Weather Classification: Nonessential