How does the City of Philadelphia use data science to reduce tax and water delinquency?

Real Estate Tax collection is at record highs while at the same time, the City of Philadelphia has reduced Real Estate tax delinquency by 31% since 2013. How are we doing it? We’re testing communications strategies and geo-targeted outreach, implementing predictive analytics for call campaigns to reduce water delinquency, and painstakingly cleaning up our data. We’re also using data to streamline the Sheriff Sale pipeline internally. Join this panel of data-nerds and civic cheerleaders to learn about how the Philadelphia Department of Revenue is getting smarter about reducing delinquency and increasing compliance. Hear about our successes and challenges, and the next projects that will continue the positive trends.

Panelists from the City of Philadelphia:

• Nathaniel Olin, Social Scientist, Mayor's Policy Office - messaging that works to spur taxpayer action
• Darryl E. Watson Jr., Policy Analyst for Revenue Collections - the painstaking-process of data-matching
• Mark Harvey, Director of Operations Water Revenue Bureau - how predictive analytics help collect overdue water bills
• Roman Strakovsky, Director of Data Intelligence Revenue Research - what is next for data at Revenue

Moderated by Rebecca Lopez Kriss, Department of Revenue, Director of Strategic Outreach & Senior Policy Analyst

Photo: Justin Grimes (justgrimes), Flickr