Virtually all of the functions and services of the Oakland County Treasurer's Office are State mandated. Other duties and powers are authorized by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.
The two main roles of the Treasurer's Office are:
The custodian of all County funds
The collector of taxes
As the custodian of all County funds, the County receives money from several sources. The principal source of revenue is from property taxes. Other income is received from State and Federal grants, interest income and various service and license fees.
Many County departments, such as the County Clerk, Parks and Recreation and Drain Commissioner, collect money in the course of their business. This money is periodically deposited with the Treasurer's Office, which is in a sense, the County's bank. Besides revenue items, the Treasurer is responsible for large amounts of money in various trust and agency funds.
The Treasurer maintains well over $1.5 billion in daily cash and investment balances.
While the office has custody of County funds, the Treasurer seeks to maximize interest earnings through a process of short-term investments. The guarantee of safety of all County funds is of the utmost concern. In order to gain the maximum earnings, the Treasurer seeks the best combination of interest rates and lengths of investments. The lengths of the investments are partially determined by the schedule of disbursements.
Through prudent investment practices, the County's short-term portfolio consistency exceeds the short term Treasury Note market by five to ten percent.
All disbursements of County money, such as payroll and payments to vendors, are made by the County Treasurer as approved by the County Executive.
As the collector of taxes, the County Treasurer administers a system of property tax collections. City, village and township treasurers originally send out annual bills for taxes on both real and personal property. As the local treasurers collect the taxes, they forward them to the County Treasurer's Office, where an accounting is made.
At the end of the collection period, the local treasurers return as delinquent any unpaid County, school, State and local taxes. From this point, the delinquent real property tax collections are the responsibility of the County Treasurer.
Under new legislation, taxes not paid within 24 months are sold at a County land sale. Oakland County is one of only three counties in the State of Michigan that allows local taxing units to contract with it for the collection of delinquent personal property taxes (taxes on furniture, fixtures, and equipment of businesses).
At the time of the annual delinquent return, the County prepays real property tax delinquencies to more than 100 taxing authorities throughout the County (cities, villages, townships, school districts, community colleges and the State of Michigan). The prepayment is done by means of a delinquent tax revolving fund; the costs involved are offset by interest and penalties collected from delinquent taxpayers.
