CORNWALL, Ontario – The City of Cornwall has decided to give their financing software a much needed update.
Currently, the City of Cornwall’s finance department is using a DOS based program. DOS is more than 30-years-old and many of the programmers who are familiar with it are retiring. By the end of 2019, the DOS program used by the City of Cornwall’s Finance Department, MAS, will no longer be supported by its supplier.
Council voted in favour of awarding a contract to Diamond Municipal Solutions to replace their current billing and accounting software with a new system based on a Microsoft Word interface.
“What the new software can do is it has e-billing and emailing functionality,” said Tracey Bailey, the City of Cornwall’s Financial Services Manager. “If a property owner signs up, they will receive their property tax bill or utility bill by email.”
The software will also allow employees to place vacation requests electronically and receive their paystubs electronically as well. There will also be a portal for citizens to view their bills and other transactions with the City and all of this will be mobile friendly.
The contract for the new system amounts to $775,000, Bailey explained that $230,000 of that is to upgrade the billing system, $340,000 to upgrade accounts payable and $205,000 to upgrade payroll.
“It is concerning that the City is still using software that runs on DOS,” said Councillor Eric Bergeron. “It is a lot of money but allowing us to bill electronically brings our services up to date.”
Bergeron said that innovating the way the City is doing things through technology is something he is interested in pursuing further.
City of Cornwall administration estimates that the new software will pay for itself in seven years and will bring in a cost savings of $70,000 per year beyond that.
