Clark County Plans Upgrade of Tax, Property Data System

By Bill Stewart, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Apr. 4–VANCOUVER — Clark County is building a better computer to handle taxes and the details about the county’s 170,000 homes and properties.

“The old computer was like a 1970 Dodge Dart that had had an engine overhaul in 1986,” said Doug Lasher, county treasurer. It “did its job well, but that was when we had half as many people living here.”

The replacement’s cost will be about $6 million by startup in mid-2008. The bulk of that is $4.1 million for software being developed by True Automation of Plano, Texas. That company submitted the winning proposal after 11 firms responded to 60 solicitations the county sent out.

“When we started the replacement process four years ago, we wanted an off-the-shelf item,” Lasher said. “After looking at what was on that shelf, we decided it was better to build a new system ourselves.”

True Automation has assessor programs running in 82 Texas counties. Clark County now will add a treasurer unit to track property taxes and combine that with the assessments. Some hardware will be retained, but the operating system will be new.

More than 60,000 “hits” per month are being tallied on the county’s current system, which has an Internet site for tax information, Lasher said.

“Of course people are looking at their own homes,” Lasher said, “but we also hear from insurance agents who need property details to complete policies and mortgage companies and prospective buyers. Every Internet hit means one less phone call we have to field here.”

The treasurer’s staff has increased by two people — for a total of 24 — since 1982, Lasher said. The county’s population in 1982 was 200,000; today it is slightly more than 400,000.

Assessor Linda Franklin said the county has known for years that the old system’s days were limited. But replacement was forced when Hewlett-Packard Co., which developed the existing computer’s software and much of its hardware, said it no longer would provide support after 2008. Instead, HP is concentrating on a new generation of computer servers and software, Lasher added.

“While we tried to get every dime out of the existing software, we were preparing for the inevitable,” Franklin said. “It arrived with HP’s decision.”

It reached a point where “no one was around to write the old software program,” Lasher said. “It’s a far cry from the old ledger books. Things have changed a lot.”

Details on property taxes and assessments can be obtained on the Internet by going to www.clark.wa.gov and clicking on Property Taxes.

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