The Auburn City Council on Thursday approved a resolution to award a three-year contract to Edmunds GovTech for the software. The change will cost the city $50,000 for implementation and $22,000 annually during the life of the contract.
Edmunds GovTech was one of four entities that responded to the city's request for proposals in June. Hamer Enterprises, OpenGov and Tyler Technologies were the other firms that submitted proposals.
City staff from the assessor's office, information technology and treasurer's office participated in software demonstrations and reviewed the proposals, according to a background memo. They scored the proposals based on completeness, technical approach and demo, pricing and project planning.
Edmunds, which has the lowest upfront and annual costs, received the highest score. The other submissions were more expensive, with upfront costs ranging from $86,000 to $174,000 and annual costs between $42,000 and $50,000.
Auburn City Manager Jenny Haines explained that the new billing software would continue to decrease the city's reliance on its AS400, which she described as "a very old legacy system that we will no longer have support for."
"Tax billing and collection is probably our biggest issue that is still in the AS400, so we're really excited to move this forward and have software that is relevant and current," she said.
There are other programs on the AS400 that the city is working to transition to new systems. Auburn City Comptroller Mary Beth Leeson mentioned other examples, including parking ticket software and retiree health insurance.
One reason for the push to decrease reliance on the AS400 system is that the city only has one employee who can handle support for the legacy system. That employee is close to retirement, according to Leeson.
Leeson acknowledged there are costs associated with the new software. But, she added, if the city is unable to bill taxes, "that's going to be a huge hurdle for us."
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