Saturday, October 4, 2008

County approves purchase of upgrade

Gerald Garner Jr. El Defensor Chieftain Editor, ggarner@dchieftain.com

In an effort to ensure that 2008 tax bills go out as close to the state's Nov. 1 deadline as possible, Socorro County Commissioners approved the purchase of a software upgrade Friday, Oct. 3.

The commission gave unanimous approval to the measure, which will see County Treasurer Genevie Baca's computer operating system upgraded from an antiquated MS-DOS platform to a Windows-based operating system. Baca has contended that until such an upgrade is made, her office would not be able to get the current tax bills out by the early November deadline.

Commission chairman Jay Santillanes reported that the new system should be up and running within a week and the bills would likely be produced within two weeks of the system upgrade.

"The bills should be out at about the same time they were last year," Santillanes said.

A review by County Manager Matejka Ray and County Attorney Adren Nance led the county to support the purchase of the package, which carries a $42,000 price tag with an additional $8,000 for annual software support.

Despite the fact that the county likely will not meet the state's Nov. 1 deadline, Baca said her office has been granted an extension until Jan. 15, 2009. Santillanes said he doesn't see the bills being produced more than about two weeks late.

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