St. Lawrence County buys financial software

CANTON — The St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators Monday approved the over $700,000 purchase of a financial software system despite the efforts of one legislator who sought delay.

“We are quite convinced we have a financial crisis,” said Legislator Frederick S. Morrill, D-DeKalb Junction. “I believe the timing is wrong to do this. As soon as we vote to do this, we’re saying our financial crisis is over. I think we should hold off on this and do it when we can afford to do it.”

Staff and legislators who reviewed the MUNIS system believe it will enable the county to issue more timely reports so it can make more informed decisions. However, Mr. Morrill said the system will not speed up certain processes, such as the year-end report, because that does not depend on what computer program is used but on when information becomes available.

“It won’t be a whole lot different,” Mr. Morrill said. “This is not a magic potion.”

County Treasurer Kevin M. Felt argued the system is better than what the county has.

“There’s no doubt it’s a very good system,” he said. “There’s less room for error.”

In addition to the initial cost of $711,808, MUNIS will require an annual maintenance fee of at least $92,000, nearly double the cost of the county’s current GEMS system.

Despite the cost, waiting will not help the county, said Legislator Joseph R. Lightfoot, R-Ogdensburg.

“It’s not going to get any cheaper,” he said. “The system we have now doesn’t do the job.”

Legislator Alex A. MacKinnon, R-Fowler, said he has heard it before that the next generation of software will be a vast improvement, just as GEMS was supposed to be.

“Here we are, 10 years later, saying the same thing,” he said.

Legislators voted 11-2 to buy the system, with Mr. Morrill and Gregory M. Paquin, D-Massena, the nay votes. Two legislators were absent.