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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
RESOLUTION REQUIRING A COST-COMPARISON ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN FROM THE BUREAU OF TECHNOLOGY AND BOARD OF REVIEW ON TECHNOLOGY AND SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
WHEREAS, in 2015 Cook County entered into a $30 million contract with Tyler Technologies, Inc. (“Tyler Technologies”) to assist the Bureau of Technology (“BoT”) in replacing the County’s 40-year-old mainframe system with an integrated appraisal and tax administration software solution; and
WHEREAS, after delays, contract extensions, and monetary increases, in October of 2020, the Cook County Assessor’s Office (“CCAO”), BoT, and Tyler Technologies launched iasWorld’s Phase One, which moved certain CCAO property tax operations away from the County mainframe system. This work was done with notice and input from the three other County offices that operate the County’s property tax operations; the Clerk’s office, the Treasurer’s office and the Board of Review (“BoR”); and
WHEREAS, through the years 2023 and 2024, it is expected that the Cook County Clerk’s office and the Cook County Treasurer’s office will migrate its property tax operations to the County’s iasWorld system; and
WHEREAS, BoR currently uses its own technology system, OnBase, for its property tax workflow, and BoR maintains OnBase works well for its Office. OnBase uses the mainframe as a data transfer platform to iasWorld; and
WHEREAS, in 2022, the CCAO needed to export data from the iasWorld’s system back to the mainframe so the BoR could access it for its appeal process. During the export, there were disruptions due to a breakdown of a parallel set of systems needed to handle the data. The finalization of property assessments to prepare property tax bills was significantly delayed. As a result, Cook County’s property tax bills were mailed approximately five months late, leaving taxpayers confused and frustrated; and
WHEREAS, BoR has a preliminary plan to create an integrated automation platform technology to transfer data between OnBase and iasWorld; and
WHEREAS, there continues to be robust discussions about the technology solutions needed to avoid future property tax delays, how to efficiently use taxpayer money to support the property tax system while avoiding duplication of technological solutions, and streamline the property tax system using available technology;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the BoR and BoT collaborate to prepare a cost-comparison assessment. The assessment shall analyze the annual cost to the County of operating and maintaining the two above-referenced contracts for OnBase and iasWorld and compare that number with the amount it would cost the County to expand the iasWorld contract to cover BoR operations. In this evaluation, BoR and BoT shall calculate how much time BoR employees spend hand entering/data processing information into OnBase that already exists in iasWorld. The goal of the evaluation is to calculate the price difference, if any, between adding BoR to the current iasWorld contract versus continuing the operations of two separate technology systems; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the cost-comparison assessment shall also calculate the cost to the County to create an integrated automation platform technology to transfer data between OnBase and iasWorld; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that BoR and BoT prepare a written report on the cost comparisons described above and prepare an action plan based on the report results. The report and action plan shall be presented by BoR to the Technology and Innovation Committee within 90 days of the enactment of this Resolution.
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