February Counties Moving Forward

Linn County, Oregon is this month’s feature on Counties Moving Forward for their recent developments in public transportation and the Earned Income Tax Credit/Free Tax Preparation. In 2006, Linn County teamed-up with their local AARP office that provided free tax preparation services to senior citizens. This partnership expanded the service to low-income citizens and promoted the Earned Income Tax Credit. At the time, free tax preparation sites were currently in place in Albany, Lebanon, and Sweet Home, Oregon. Not only did Linn County partner with AARP, they worked out a custom schedule to offer evening hours at their Lebanon site and Saturday hours at their Sweet Home site to ensure working individuals have a chance to use the service. As a result of this partnership and expansion, the sites grew in tax returns over the year before by 41.3% at the Lebanon site, 6.85% at the Albany site, and 20.0% at the Sweet Home site. The overall increase was 18.75%. The most current data the I.R.S. has on EITC refunds for Linn County is 2005 tax year. That year – tax year 2005 – $12,399,897 was refunded, which is an increase of $627,157 from 2004.

In January of 2007, about a year after the partnership with AARP began, the Linn County Business Development office lobbied and succeeded in getting the employment office to do a mail out to all employers in Linn County. The mail-out about the free tax preparation program and the Earned Income Tax Credit was mailed with employees’ W-2 forms. Though the total number of tax returns for tax year 2006 is not yet available, the county is certain they have gone up. For this year, the county’s goals include expanding the hours of the free-tax preparation sites by increasing the numbers of volunteers. They recently sought local college accounting students to be trained for volunteer work in exchange for credits, and a few college students have just finished training for this year’s service. The county is optimistic that more college students will be involved in the future.

In addition to Linn County’s efforts in free tax preparation and promoting the EITC, county workers and leaders felt compelled to continue expanding their services in the area of public transportation. The senior center in Linn County runs a Dial-a-Bus program that allows seniors and disabled citizens to call the senior center and request a van to pick them up and take them to buy groceries, go to a doctor's appointment, etc. The county was able to obtain State of Oregon transportation funds to expand this service to their low income citizens. The program uses a voucher system - the Department of Human Services, Community Services Consortium, and the Employment Office distributes the vouchers. The cost to the rider is subsidized at $2 per ride. The program’s objective is to provide an alternative source of transportation to low income workers until they reach a financial position to be able to provide their own transportation. The senior center will track the destination of each trip for the county’s records to see how the vouchers are being used.

Linn County’s partnership and expansion with the AARP and Dial-a-Bus program originated from a NACo Rural Family Economic Success (RuFES) Workshop. In 2006, Linn County attended a NACo RuFES Workshop, where participants received training in how to campaign for and set up tax sites, and the importance of the Earned Income Tax Credit. Also covered were issues on strategies to provide services to low-income families, such as transportation. In the workshop, each participating county, including Linn County set up an “action plan” to take home and implement. Linn County’s action plan included setting up a free tax preparation and a transportation program for low income families.
For more information about Linn County’s developments, please contact Keith Miller, Coordinator, Linn County Business Development at busdev@co.linn.or.us.