County tax office to switch from Tyler Technologies to Pritchard & Abbott; clerk approves Tyler agreement for public records access

Gonzales County Commissioners Court on Monday approved both a contract with Tyler Technologies for the county clerk’s public access and e‑commerce software and a separate licensing and conversion agreement to move the county tax system from Tyler Technologies to Pritchard & Abbott.

The county clerk explained the Tyler Technologies agreement would implement public records access and e‑commerce functions; funds for that software had previously been approved in the budget workshop. The court voted to approve the Tyler Technologies agreement for the clerk’s office.

Separately, representatives for the tax office described ongoing operational problems with the current Tyler Technologies collection system and proposed converting the tax office to a shared Pritchard & Abbott system that the appraisal district already uses. Shauna (tax office staff) told the court the change would give the tax office access to appraisal district data — including mapping and detailed property information — rather than the limited view (value only) currently available from Tyler. She said that conversion would be “more convenient for the taxpayer” and allow the tax office to see what is on a property in the appraisal district’s system.

The tax office said FY‑24 costs for the Tyler product were about $46,900 and that quarterly payments for January–March had already included $12,330. The vendor conversion would require a one‑time setup and training charge (discussed in the meeting as $20,000) and an annual cost reported in the discussion at approximately $51,097 (figures in the transcript were given as approximate amounts). The tax office said some services such as annual tax statement processing could be provided in‑house by Pritchard & Abbott for an additional fee.

Commissioners asked for and were given clarification on what budget lines currently pay for the Tyler product and requested a clear comparison of current payments versus the new vendor’s charges. The tax office indicated the software line was not in the tax office budget and had been paid from the Tyler Technologies line; staff agreed to provide a specific cost comparison to the court.

The court approved a motion to convert the tax system to Pritchard & Abbott and not to renew the Tyler Technologies tax office contract. The motion passed by voice vote.

Actions taken in open session therefore included: approval of the Tyler Technologies public‑access/e‑commerce agreement for the county clerk’s office and approval to switch the tax office system to Pritchard & Abbott, including authorization to pay required conversion and license fees as budgeted and subject to staff follow up on exact costs.