How Guilford County Grew Online Property Tax Collections by 244% with PayIt
Solutions deployed
Guilford County, North Carolina collects property taxes for one of the state’s largest counties. When Tax Director Ben Chavis and Tax Collection Supervisor Danyel McFadden started evaluating a new platform, their priorities were concrete: better support, cleaner reconciliation, and a payment experience that actually worked for residents.
The previous vendor wasn’t keeping up
For the county’s team, the problem with their old system wasn’t just the software. It was the relationship.
One of the most important decisions after many years of dealing with our previous vendor was the lack of service that we were getting, customer service specifically, and PayIt changed that whole dynamic for us on that customer service front.
Collection options that work for the County
Bulk payments for property owners with multiple parcels
One gap with the old system: property owners with multiple parcels had to pay each one individually. For someone managing 40 properties, that meant 40 separate transactions and 40 separate fees.
PayIt’s cart feature consolidates those into one. A property owner can pay all 40 parcels in a single transaction. It’s a practical change with a real impact on the residents and businesses who depend on the county’s payment portal.
An end-to-end integration that works
The connection between the county’s tax system, PayIt, and the finance department is tight. Payments post in real time — the moment a resident completes a transaction, it’s reflected in the county’s system and visible on the public website. Property owners can confirm their payment went through without calling the office. Funds flow directly to the county’s bank account without manual intervention.
Reconciliation down to two to three days
For Danyel McFadden, the operational shift is easy to measure. Reconciliation once demanded constant attention. Now it happens every two to three days.
Reconciliation, huge. It’s gone down tremendously.
When payments post automatically and the system updates in real time, the manual work of matching records drops significantly. McFadden’s team gets that time back.
A payment experience residents can trust
The payment process is intuitive and smooth. Residents complete transactions quickly, and every update happens automatically. Both Chavis and McFadden describe the overall result the same way. That’s what the county set out to find, and what they’ve had since moving to PayIt.
I just feel like it is streamlined service. Online it’s easy and modernized.
