Rather than wait until all approvals are in place and potentially further delay the 2009 tax bills, Porter County officials are replacing a troublesome tax software program used in the county auditor and treasurer offices.

In the coming weeks, the Porter County Commissioners and Porter County Council are expected to approve the budgetary moves needed to finalize the $355,000 software purchase from Low & Associates of South Bend. The new software will replace the system purchased from Hamer Enterprises of Texas in 2007 for $214,420.

The new software is currently in the process of being installed in the two offices after Low representatives gave a demonstration last week, said County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger, who has been coordinating the county’s tax work with the various departments.

Though there is no contract yet in place, Low agreed to begin the installation for a $20,000 initial payment. At their next meeting, the county commissioners are expected to tap into the Information Technology Services budget for that initial payment.

Then, the county council is expected to finalize the rest of the contract cost at its next meeting, April 28, followed by the commissioners’ approval of the contract, tentatively in early May.

Early last month, both Porter County Auditor Jim Kopp and Treasurer Jim Murphy said they were in support of replacing the Hamer software due to ongoing glitches. Funding requests fom both Kopp and Murphy for the new software were expected to be heard at the council’s meeting last week, but that meeting got canceled.

Citing the strong desire among county officials to avoid another year of delayed tax bills, Rinkenberger said the county had little choice but to move forward with new software as soon as possible. If the county waited for all formal approvals, the new software installation probably wouldn’t have begun until May or June, she said. That would have further delayed the 2009 tax bills, which are already projected to be late by several months.

The recent delays with the property tax bills payable in 2008 were attributed in part to glitches with the Hamer system, which failed to win the required state certification. Rinkenberger said it’s clear, at least to her, that the county erred when it purchased the Hamer system.

Low is already state-certified. In addition, Low’s partner vendors include the companies that are already providing the software in use at the county assessor’s office and for the county’s Geographic Information System.

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance still needs to approve Low as Porter County’s tax billing vendor, as well as the additional appropriations.

The agency isn’t finalizing any additional appropriations until counties get their current year budget orders. Porter County is still in the very early stages of getting the 2009 tax and budget data finalized, meaning that the state approval of the appropriations might be months away.

As an interim measure, Rinkenberger said the county might have to tap its income tax funds or another source of funding to provide what would be like an internal loan. “We’re going to have to come up with a novel way to pay for it,” she said.

It’s questionable the extent to which Porter County will try to recoup the $214,420 cost for the Hamer software. Rinkenberger said Hamer clearly is in breach of its contract for not getting state certified; the contract stipulates that if Hamer doesn’t get the certification, the county is entitled to up to $92,000 of the licensing fees.

But as for the rest of the cost, Rinkenberger acknowledged that there are mixed feelings about trying to recoup the full amount. She noted that the Hamer system was used for the most recent tax bills and that under the terms of the contract, it’s questionable if the county could legally recoup the rest of the contract amount.

The purchase of the Low software could lay to rest a longstanding dispute between several county departments over the role that each played in the software purchase. Rinkenberger, who has been arranging daily and weekly meetings with the various departments involved in property tax work, said everyone in attendance at the Low demonstration last week supported the new software.