County considers end of New World

Not quite a year-and-a-half since Whitman County government turned on its New World accounting software system, leaders are questioning if they should switch from the costly system.

Chris Nelson, director of the county’s information technology department, presented a three-year service contract to commissioners for approval Monday.

Commissioners balked at the contract, though, after Commissioner Michael Largent asked if the county should try and get a short-term deal in order to pursue a new, potentially less expensive, accounting software.

“I’m a little bit troubled with a three-year contract at a time when our budget is - we’re looking for ways to long-term reduce our overhead,” said Largent. “New World’s a huge overhead for us.”

Whitman County has spent more than $800,000 in a lengthy process to purchase and put the New World software into operation, noted Commissioner Pat O’Neill.

The contract presented commissioners by Nelson would cover three years worth of updates to the software and maintenance from New World. Nelson reported costs would be around $42,000 for 2012, and would increase to $44,000 for 2013 and $47,000 in 2014.

Largent suggested the county find an alternative accounting software with lower annual costs.

“New World is quite spendy,” he said.

O’Neill, though, noted the effort and expense the county laid out in putting the New World system into operation.

“We’ve spent a ton of money on this,” said O’Neill.

Whitman County purchased the accounting software from New World Systems of Troy, Mich., for $331,600 in 2005. It sat unused for nearly six years while officials from the county and the company tried to get it to produce reports that met the county’s regulatory needs.

The county paid almost $400,000 for software updates, technical advice and hardware upgrades in that time.

Shortly after purchasing the software, the county realized it did not meet public accounting standards unique to Washington state. The New World company made efforts to meet those standards after Prosecutor Denis Tracy threatened the company with litigation in 2007.

O’Neill said county staffers are now using and liking the system since it was put into action April 1, 2011.

Largent said employees have reported problems with New World. He added the time and money spent on bringing the New World system online should not factor in to what the county decides in the future.

“It’s like buying a stock,” Largent said to O’Neill. “It doesn’t matter what you paid for it, it’s what it’s worth in the future.”

Commissioner Greg Partch was on the county commission when the software was purchased and moved to dismantle the finance department two years ago because the New World system was not in use. He also noted the time and expense the county has invested in the system.

“Really, the whole point is the amount of human capital we have into this,” said Partch.

Partch also noted, though, that alternatives to the system and its costly annual maintenance fees should be explored as county leaders deal with tighter budgets.

Nelson said she would ask New World if the company would accept a contract for 2012 and 2013 only. That, she said, would allow a collaborative review of alternative systems by the many department leaders who use the software.

Also Monday, commissioners authorized Nelson to purchase seven new servers for the county’s data storage, two of which will be used to run the New World system.

In addition to the two New World servers, Nelson is replacing servers used for record retention and to service the county’s email network.

She said the current servers are more than six years old and are well past replacement age.

In total, the seven new servers will cost the county $57,914.