Commissioners debate buying DataSnipper software; no action taken

County staff proposed buying DataSnipper, an Excel add-on that extracts structured data from PDFs and unstructured reports, requesting three user licenses to be paid from contingency funds. Supporters said the tool would let the auditor's office and staff quickly convert legacy PDF reports into spreadsheets for historical analysis during a planned conversion to new financial software.

Opponents said $4,000 per user (about $12,000 per year for three users) was not a prudent use of contingency funds during an active software conversion and suggested budgeting for one or more licenses next fiscal year or authorizing a single pilot license to confirm utility. Staff agreed to gather references from other counties and bring the matter back during budget workshops; the court took no action at this meeting. "It pulls all the data into the columns and rows that are much better to deal with for," one presenter said when describing the tool's function.

The discussion highlighted options: purchase now from contingency, buy one pilot license, or include multiple licenses in next year's operating budget. Commissioners asked staff to return with references and cost/benefit details at the next budget review.