Syracuse reduces tax delinquency with handwritten letters

Delinquent tax bills are bad for everyone – both residents, and the city. Unpaid property tax deprives local government of crucial revenue, and can eventually lead to foreclosure and instability for homeowners. The City of Syracuse knows how important household stability is, especially for child development, and so it decided to take action to help citizens protect their homes and investments.

With $10,000 of funding from the Allyn Family Foundation, the city partnered with the X Lab think tank at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School to find a way to minimize tax delinquency and foreclosures.

The X Lab discovered that the notifications and reminders that the city sent to homeowners were proving ineffective. Residents were often ignoring the letters either because they looked like junk mail, or because the instructions were too complex to understand.

Drawing on decades of research, the X Lab posited that handwritten letters would lead to a far better response rate, since handwriting signals to recipients that a letter is personal and important. Additionally, the X Lab asserted that notices should convey their message quickly and clearly, making it as easy as possible for readers to comply.

To test these theories, the city sent handwritten letters to 3,844 homeowners who were late or delinquent on their tax bills. At the same time, the traditional, printed letter was sent to a control group of 1,922 people.

The results were clear: citizens who received handwritten letters with a handwritten note on the envelope contributed 88% more tax revenue than those who received the printed notice. In total, over the course of several months, the tests led the city to recoup $1.47 million in overdue property taxes.