Special Notice / Hearing: None
Vote Required: 4/5ths
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Mark Church, Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Chief Elections Officer
Subject: Appropriation Transfer Request for the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections (ACRE) Department Assessor Property Assessment System (APAS) Project budget
RECOMMENDATION:
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Approve an Appropriation Transfer Request (ATR) to increase Intrafund Transfers by $8,120,289, Fixed Assets by $7,798,079 and Services and Supplies by $322,210 for the implementation of the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder-Elections (ACRE) Department Assessor Property Assessment System (APAS) Project.
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BACKGROUND:
At the December 11, 2018 Board of Supervisors meeting, this Board approved the APAS Agreement (“APAS Agreement”) to replace the Assessor’s 25-year-old legacy data management system. The term of the APAS Agreement includes a 3-year term to cover the project development and implementation of the system (“Development Agreement”) and a post-project 10-year term for maintenance and operations of the system (“Maintenance Agreement”). The Development Agreement has been extended to 5 years through several Amendments. The new APAS system was deployed into production and the legacy system was deinstalled in December 2023. ACRE Department successfully closed the FY 2023-24 Assessment Roll in the new APAS system.
DISCUSSION:
The APAS Development Agreement with our implementation vendor Sapient Corporation only allowed Sapient to invoice on final acceptance of deliverables by ACRE Department. These deliverables and the associated payments are clearly identified in Exhibit B of the Agreement with Sapient. This contract structure provided significant protection to the County that no payments will be made until deliverables are accepted by the County. Hence, each budget cycle, ACRE Department budgeted funds in Intrafund Transfers as a draw down from the General Fund once project deliverables are finalized and payment is made to Sapient.
Due to staffing turnovers in the ACRE Department Fiscal Services Unit, staff omitted budgeting the Intrafund Transfer dollars for the APAS Project in the FY 2024-25 Recommended Budget. This has resulted in ACRE Department not having sufficient funds to cover invoice payments due to vendors for the APAS project in the current fiscal year. Funding is traditionally moved on a quarterly basis from Non-Departmental Services to the ACRE Department budget with approval from the County Executive’s Office as invoices are paid by the ACRE Department Fiscal Services Unit.
County Attorney has reviewed and approved the Appropriation Transfer Request as to form.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funds for this project have been appropriated by the Board and no new funding is requested. Non-Departmental Services will reimburse the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder-Elections (ACRE) Department for costs associated with the Assessor Property Assessment System (APAS) Project. The ATR increases Intrafund Transfers, Fixed Assets and Services and Supplies in the Department’s FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget. Unspent appropriations will be included in future budgets.