How Buckeye Partners Streamlined Property Tax With Ryan's Software

Buckeye Partners streamlined more than 2,000 annual property tax payments by centralizing tax data, automating workflows, and improving reporting through Ryan’s Real Estate Property Tax Software. The result was faster reconciliation, reduced administrative burden, and greater confidence in critical property tax information.

Business Challenges

Manual processes and decentralized data limited transparency and control.

When Flora Davis joined Buckeye Partners in 2011, the company had recently acquired a large portfolio and was undergoing a major relocation of its corporate functions. The tax function relied heavily on spreadsheets and Access databases to manage more than 2,000 annual payments. Critical tax data was scattered across network folders, with limited structure and searchability. Historical research, which was often required when supporting appeals or addressing audits, was time-consuming and unreliable.

In addition, the lack of integration between tax and accounting systems often resulted in duplicated effort, coding errors, and manual reporting. Forecasting and quarterly reconciliation processes were cumbersome and slow, sometimes taking up to two weeks to complete.

Solutions

Organization, automation, and responsive support.

By 2017, Buckeye adopted Ryan’s Real Estate Property Tax Software to centralize property tax data, streamline workflows, and improve accuracy. The platform’s intuitive interface and simplicity were key selling points, especially compared to other solutions that required complex asset allocation models that did not fit Buckeye’s needs.

Ryan’s software gave Buckeye a single source of truth tailored to its operations, enabling automated data capture, ERP-integrated payments, and tracking of deadlines and appeals. The forecasting module helped the team build more accurate projections, while document management tools made it easier to retrieve historical information for audits and other needs.

Implementation was relatively smooth, with Ryan’s internal software team supporting Buckeye as it migrated from Access and organized data around future reporting needs. Since then, Buckeye has continued to meet quarterly with the Ryan software team, providing product feedback that has helped shape platform enhancements.
“We’re not your typical real estate company,” said Flora. “But the team has always been willing to work with us to adapt the system to our needs.”

Results

• 50-60% reduction in time spent by Accounts Payable: Thanks to Ryan’s integration with Buckeye’s ERP system, the AP team no longer rekeys data. Validated tax payment data is pushed directly from Ryan’s software to the ERP, reducing errors and saving significant time.

• More efficient reporting and reconciliation: Flora reports that quarterly reconciliation that once may have taken up to two weeks, can now be completed in about one week, with the initial draft often ready in a day. The ability to slice, dice, and export data has made internal reporting and external requests (e.g., asset sales or audits) much easier.

• Confidence in compliance and asset management: With all documents and assessment data centralized in Ryan’s software, the Buckeye team can quickly access historical agreements or state-level filings.

• Growing adoption across the organization: After witnessing its success, Buckeye is now in the process of rolling out the same payment processing model to its indirect tax team. They also plan to implement Ryan’s accruals module in the near future.

• A tailored solution for a complex asset base: Ryan has helped Buckeye Partners modernize their property tax operations while accounting for the nuances of a pipeline and terminal-based portfolio. The platform’s flexibility, ease of use, and deep integration capabilities have allowed the company to improve accuracy, reduce administrative burden, and gain greater control over one of its largest operating expenses.