Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Gis Fund topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trumbull County auditors propose GIS Enterprise Fund to centralize mapping and recover software costs
Summary
County auditor proposed creating a GIS Enterprise Fund (fund 0.081) to centralize GIS/Esri licensing, share costs among departments and eventually generate revenue through an advisory board; commissioners asked for more details before authorizing the new fund.
Trumbull County officials discussed creating a dedicated GIS Enterprise Fund (fund 0.081) during the March 25 workshop to centralize geographic information system (GIS) software costs and allow the county to bill outside entities for services.
The proposal, explained by county staff and the auditor's office, would place GIS licensing and related revenue in a single account administered by the Trumbull County Auditor. The auditor said the county currently runs GIS work inside the auditor’s real estate/tax office and that planning, sanitary and other departments also use similar Esri software. Centralizing the software licensing and operations would, officials said, enable shared training, reduce duplicate purchases and create a path to recapture costs by providing paid services to other entities.
Auditor staff said the auditor’s office currently employs five staff who perform GIS and tax work and that licenses are paid from various department line items. Commissioners asked for more detail about the proposed revenue model, the timing of software license renewal dates, and whether creating a fund now obligates the board to appoint an advisory board later. The auditor responded that establishing the fund is the preliminary step to give the county an accounting structure; creation of any advisory board and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between offices would come back to the board for a separate vote.
Examples discussed included current license payments (auditor staff cited a sanitary license payment in 02/2024 of about $8,300) and the potential to move all GIS licensing into the new fund from existing REA or departmental funds. County prosecutor Bill Danso told commissioners that any advisory body could be statutory or nonstatutory and that staff would return with the legal form of any board if that step is pursued.
Commissioners requested a more detailed revenue plan, a list of current license renewal dates, projected first-year fund inflows, and proposed governance language before creating the fund. No formal action was taken at the workshop; staff said they would bring the fund establishment back with the requested details.
Ending: The board asked for a written plan and timeline showing license due dates, initial funding sources, draft MOU language and a proposed advisory-board structure before voting on establishing Fund 0.081.
