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March 3, 2017
Local News Article 10749
Bay City finds potential savings of $2,000,000 per year statewide in postag
March 3, 2017
By: O. J. Cunningham
Bay City residents will soon find their annual Assessment Change Notice in a newly designed format in the coming days.
Bay City Assessor, Wade Slivik converted the traditional letter mail format to a USPS approved bi-fold postcard. In the past, townships and cities across Michigan mail their Assessment Change Notice and Property Tax Bills in letter/envelope format, which cost roughly $0.40+/piece in postage.
If adopted statewide, Slivik projects this will save local townships and cities roughly $2,000,000 per year (est. 4,800,000 parcels statewide). Bay City will notice a savings of $6000 per year. Slivik formatted the design to fit onto A5 paper, meaning any regular desktop printer is capable of printing this design. The A5 format is 8.3? x 5.7?, which folds in half to the USPS postcard standard requirements. The mailing possesses all information required of MCL 211.24c and font size is not sacrificed. Slivik also designed the notice with the USPS Intelligent Barcode, which allows further reduction in postage fees.
"From my understanding, this is the first design in the state. With statewide local unit revenues being stretched farther than ever, this might be a clever way to stretch department expenditures,"? Says Slivik. An additional $0.01/piece might also be saved in manufacturing by removing the cost of the envelope.
For the past nine months, Slivik worked with Attorneys and the United States Post Office to redesign the format and cost $0.253/piece in postage. Dana Muscott approved the idea in the summer of 2016 assisting Slivik throughout all stages of the design. City Manager Finn shared the new design concept with the Mayor and Commission in late December. Employees at F.P. Horak verified and printed the final design last week.
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