Property Data Computer System
By Miles Shuper
Tulare County - Tulare County's mainframe computer which hosts the county's property tax system is being replaced.
Supervisors Tuesday authorized the purchase of a new mainframe system which supports assessments and collections. The cost is about $513,000, which had been budgeted.
Peg Yeates, in charge of the county's Information Technology Department, said the current system “is a risk to the county because the technology is now unsupported by normal means,” a problem throughout the state.
She said the county has extended the life of the system “as much as possible through third party support and purchase of spare parts, but to continue risks the county's ability to maintain the Property Information Management system.”
She said purchasing state-of-the-art technology to replace the existing system will extend the life of the PIM system for at least five years. In addition, it will expand use of the mainframe system into other areas such as virtual servers and open system technology.
Yeates said replacing the whole PIM system is currently cost prohibitive, likely several million dollars, but this upgrading could become part of a new system down the line.
The current IBM mainframe was purchased in 1996, but both the hardware and software systems no longer are supported by IBM except at substantial cost to the county, according to a memo to the board. By replacing the current mainframe, all hardware and operating system software will be supportable by IBM through the normal support services, she said, adding that the purchase price included three years of prepaid hardware maintenance and two years of prepaid maintenance for the disk and tape systems.
Yeates noted the cost of IBM support
will drop from $453,763 to $390,000.
Assistant Tulare County Assessor Roland Hill said the current system is
antiquated and has been a major concern for several years and he is glad
the county is upgrading the PIM system. Tulare County is far from being
alone in property information systems. It's an issue stressing just nearly
every county in the state.
One of the major problems, Hill said, is creating an independent PIM system
which fits California's complex assessment and taxing system. There are
companies which claim their systems work but they don't, he said.
Other counties, especially San Diego
County, have spent millions and millions of dollars working on their PIM
systems without major success, Hill said, adding that “you just
can't go into Best Buy and pick out a system” applicable to California.
He called PIM systems “alligators which just keep chopping and chopping”
vast amounts of money.
Yeates reinforces Hill's assessment
of PIM problems in California, citing a breakout session she attended
during a recent conference of California IT directors.
Based on discussions at that session, Yeates said the counties of California
“are struggling with this issue.”
“There are few options to replace outdated software. Most options that have been proposed have failed in California though they work elsewhere,” she said, noting Proposition 13 and other complexities unique to the state.
The new system coming to Tulare County “will allow us to bridge the gap between now and when a new and hopefully affordable replacement will be developed,” Yeates said.
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