Baxter County: Mountain Home, Arkansas
How Baxter County Partnered With TaxPRO for Scalable Success
- Office: Baxter County Collector's Office, Arkansas
- The Facts: Key Focus Areas - Workflow Efficiency, DAV Tracking, Texting Capabilities for Taxpayers, and True Vendor Partnership
- Solution: TaxPRO Cloud-Based Tax Software & Integrated Workflows
- Contact: Teresa Smith, Baxter County Collector
The Challenge: Navigating Rigid Legacy Systems and Disconnected Workflows
For years, the Baxter County Collector’s Office faced significant hurdles with legacy software that limited operational agility. Led by Teresa—a seasoned collector and longtime 1st Vice President for the Arkansas Collectors Association—the office struggled against an inflexible software provider that offered little room for collaboration or input.
Lack of Voice in Product Development
Custom feature requests were routinely dismissed or subjected to bureaucratic red tape, requiring Teresa to pitch ideas to an entire collective of users just to see if they were deemed “valuable” enough for the vendor’s roadmap. None of her major suggestions were ever integrated.
Vendor Lock-In and Restrictive Integration
When Teresa independently identified a superior payment processing partnership opportunity with another payment processor, her legacy provider refused to entertain the transition, forcing her to stick to pre-approved, rigid paths.
Labor-Intensive Annual Processes
Critical multi-week tasks, such as working through the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) process at the start of the year, relied heavily on outdated mechanics that drained the team’s time and delayed revenue workflows.
Before coming to TaxPRO, I never felt important or valued with my old software provider… Any time I asked for something, I was told it would take a software change and have to go before the whole group of collectors.
The Solution: Moving to a True Partner Model With TaxPRO
The catalyst for change came through a relationship-driven approach. Following a casual visit from the TaxPRO team and positive peer recommendations from neighboring counties—such as Garland County’s experience with TaxPRO’s DAV process—Baxter County evaluated a transition.
Impressed by a comprehensive demonstration and the active listening of the TaxPRO support and implementation team, Baxter County made the strategic shift to TaxPRO’s modern ecosystem.
Key Technological Upgrades Implemented:
DAV Tracker
Streamlining and accelerating the Disabled American Veterans workflow.
Texting Capabilities for Taxpayers
Replacing traditional, time-consuming phone calls and physical mail notices with direct mobile messaging.
Probate Case Maintenance
Providing clean, user-friendly legal tracking interfaces.
Seamless Integration with Another Payment Processor
Granting Baxter County the modern payment gateway integration they had sought for years.
Optimized Assessment Workflows
Accelerating change slips from the Assessor’s Office, COSL Turnback reports, annual certification, and tax statement printing.
The Result: A Streamlined Office and Measurable Operational Wins
Approaching its one-year go-live anniversary, Baxter County has experienced a complete operational transformation. Moving from a legacy server-based architecture to a responsive web-based platform required overcoming initial learning curves—including retraining the team’s “muscle memory”—but the long-term payoff has been profound.
Weeks Saved
Off the annual DAV process
3,469
Average taxpayer texts sent per month
$100s
Saved annually on postage
- Faster Annual DAV Processing: In prior years, working through the Disabled American Veterans list took weeks of detailed, manual effort. In TaxPRO’s first year live, that same process took a fraction of the time— even while the Baxter team was still learning the new system. Teresa expects the savings to become even clearer once the office completes a second full DAV cycle on the platform.
At the beginning of this year, [my team] didn’t have to spend weeks working on each DAV as they did in the past… I’m going to say we saved weeks’ worth of work.
- Accelerated Daily Processing: Turnaround times have shrunk for COSL Turnback reports, Assessor change slips, tax statement printing, and annual certifications.
- Modernized Taxpayer Engagement: Baxter County now sends an average of 3,469 texts to taxpayers each month—direct notifications that would previously have required a phone call or a mailed letter. Teresa estimates the shift has saved the office a few hundred dollars a year in postage. More significantly, texting has let her reach taxpayers she likely wouldn’t have contacted at all under the old system.
Having the ability to send notifications without the postage and paper cost has opened up more opportunities that I didn’t have in the past, and that is a game changer… My taxpayers who are willing to give me their cell number will not have the excuse that they didn’t know they had taxes due, that they’re delinquent, or that they didn’t assess. I’m trying to keep them all informed.
- Responsive Development Partnership: Unlike her past experience, Teresa notes that TaxPRO actively listens to user feedback, continuously refining features to match the real-world needs of Arkansas collectors.
They are the best, their product & customer service can’t be matched. They offer so much more than you can think or imagine… When you think of something that sounds wonderful, they put it into place.