Commission presses staff for weekly updates on software, testing and mailing for senior tax bills

Commissioners pressed county staff for greater transparency about the technical readiness of the SB190 billing process and asked for weekly written updates until bills are mailed.

Commissioner Thompson and others said prior years' problems made them nervous. "On a scale of 0 to 100, how confident are we?" one commissioner asked. County staff and the software vendor told the commission they were in active testing, that they could run test environments with made-up parcels, and that the final certification of levies (October 15) constrains full end-to-end testing. "We are in the testing phase every day," the administrative services director said, noting staff are hand-checking files and working with the vendor on fixes.

The commission directed weekly progress reports on software testing, print and mail preparations and contingency plans; staff agreed. The update requirement was presented as a condition of giving staff latitude to move forward with ending renewals.