Just northwest of St. Louis, Missouri sits a bustling suburb of nearly 30,000. This city is segmented by highways and interstates but united by a spirit of commerce and community. Home to lovely natural areas as well as a casino and waterpark, Maryland Heights is known as a great place to put down roots.
Because of its convenient location, Maryland Heights has attracted many thriving businesses. Edward Jones Investments has a regional office here, and it is home to tech-centric corporations and healthcare providers. For more than 30 years, this fast-growing suburb has seen constant construction of both housing and commercial developments as residents and entrepreneurs settle in.
But with growth comes challenges.
A Troubling Question With Few In-House Solutions
The leaders of this community struggled to keep up with records as new taxpayers streamed into the city. Maryland Heights wanted to make sure that everyone was paying their fair share, but knew that the tax rolls just weren’t accurate. These errors were promoting inequality, and robbing the community from dollars critical for capital-development projects. Something had to be done.
The issue plaguing Maryland Heights is fairly common. Unfortunately, municipalities can’t count on utility providers for clean records. Cities that have experienced rapid growth often find that managing up-to-date utility logs is a herculean effort, requiring lots of staff time and highly technical knowledge. Rather than spend internal resources on this task and risk that it might not pay off, the city’s leadership team sought the assistance of a reputable third-party provider.
Selecting a Key Partner with a True Track Record
While at a meeting of the Government Finance Officers’ Association, Maryland Heights leaders attended a presentation by Azavar. The city’s finance team was wowed by the technical acumen Azavar demonstrated, as well as its long history of exclusive partnerships with governments. They learned how other municipalities with the same challenge reaped significant financial rewards.
Azavar’s fee structure was also highly attractive to Maryland Heights. As a smaller municipality, leaders didn’t want to be on the hook for a high professional-services bill without knowing if it was going to result in positive findings. But with this payment model, Azavar receives a portion of any taxes recovered—and only after the municipality gets the bulk of the proceeds. Of course, for municipalities precluded from participating in a contingency-fee model, Azavar can bill on a fee-only basis.
