Address Change Initiative

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Within the Commonwealth of Virginia, there exists a unique situation whereby counties and cities are totally independent from one another insofar as economic, geographic, and political matters are concerned. Nonetheless, Henrico County and the City of Richmond have always shared a common mailing address of “Richmond, VA” which has created a serious problem in terms of misallocated local taxes. For years, millions of dollars in revenue belonging to the County was mistakenly being paid to the City. Staff within the Finance Department estimated that the County was losing up to five million dollars on an annual basis due to the confusion surrounding the mailing address. Consequently, the County ultimately approached to the U.S. Postal Service to determine the feasibility of procuring its own mailing address of “Henrico, VA.” Since no other viable solution seemed available, staff within the departments of Finance and Public Relations & Media Services embarked upon an extensive public information and education campaign to make the residents aware of this problem—and the potential solution. Over a several month period, the County sent informational brochures to residents via direct mail, placed descriptive inserts in utility bills, ran paid television commercials and print advertising, aired advertisements on the County’s cable television station, and posted extensive information on their website. In a survey to county residents and businesses, over 61% agreed to the switch, allowing the USPS to go ahead with the change.