While it has always been important for the Finance Department to collect money owed to the City of Prattville, our Revenue Officer and Clerks are actively pursuing collection of fees/taxes owed to the City.

Contacting delinquent businesses:  We have increased the calls and letters while decreasing the time to have debts paid in full, therefore, resulting in collections sooner than later.

Easier payment methods:  The Finance Department accepts credit cards, in person and over the phone, for your convenience. This service has been in place for a few years and has proven to be quicker and easier for individuals and businesses to make payment, especially for larger amounts owed.

Cross-training:  We have implemented training days for one of the Revenue Clerks to go out in the field and train with the Revenue Officer. This will provide more coverage for license checking since there has been such tremendous growth to city in the last 10 years.

Sub-lists:  When a contractor submits his list of sub-contractors to our Planning & Zoning department, it has been our policy to check each listed sub for a business license. We have now increased the number of individuals conducting checks from 1 to 5, which allows for re-checks where needed. If we determine that there are unlicensed sub-contractors working on construction sites, we can and will stop inspections. This ensures compliance and increases revenue. In the past, without this process, the sub-contractor could have finished the job and left the city without being properly licensed.

Liens:  We are now placing liens on businesses that have become delinquent in taxes and/or business licenses. After all other collection action has been exhausted; a lien is filed against all parcels of property as well as real and personal property of the owner of said business. This guarantees that the fees/taxes owed are paid.

Enforcement:  The two biggest non-compliance issues are operating without a current business license (Prattville Code of Ordinances, Section 38-306) and contractors/sub-contractors having no signage on their vehicles (Prattville Code of Ordinances, Section 38-325). We want our citizens to feel more at ease when hiring contractors or doing business with local or incoming businesses. In the past, we have had to sign warrants on businesses for non-compliance. Our current policy is to immediately sign a warrant after "due process" has been followed. Repeated "good gesture" efforts have proven to be a waste of valuable time and money. These offenses add up to a significant amount of revenue dollars.

Exchange of information:  We have an exchange agreement with State and County Revenue Departments. On an annual basis, we exchange business license listings to cross-reference names and addresses. We foster relationships with other cities and their revenue staff which makes gathering information about their local business easier and helps us in enforcement.

Please call to verify that a business is current on their license before hiring them to do a job. This is for your protection. It is very difficult for us to help you AFTER the work is complete and the contractor is gone.

If you are delinquent, please pay what you owe or make an arrangement as soon as possible to avoid a visit from our Revenue Officer. Thank you to all individuals and businesses who are consistently in compliance.