Taos County approves three-year Submittable contract to digitize Lodgers Tax grant process

Taos County approved procurement of the Submittable online grant-management platform for the county’s Lodgers Tax grant program. Elsie Vigil presented the item and described the platform’s ability to handle applications, reimbursements, post-grant reporting, and the audit trail.

Vigil said the current manual reimbursement process requires extensive staff time: “For her to do reimbursements to get that done it takes 2 weeks of her time literally 2 weeks for her to get through them to get them to finance, to get paid out.” She told commissioners the Submittable government package would be procured through the state price agreement with Carahsoft and said the three-year total cost presented was about $144,009, with an annual payment planned at roughly $42,473 and a one-time implementation fee she quoted as about $5,003.

Commissioner Vitale confirmed the three-year contract would lock in prices for the term and asked whether the funding source was the Lodgers Tax (non-promotional) fund; Vigil confirmed it is paid from Lodgers Tax program funds and that state agencies use Submittable. Commissioners and staff described the platform as a tool to reduce staff time, provide a clear audit trail, allow applicants to check submission status online and to streamline evaluators’ reviews.

Commissioner Brush moved approval and the motion carried on roll call. The county will pay annually under the three-year agreement and staff plan to implement the platform in time to accept the next Lodgers Tax grant round on the schedule described by staff.

Why it matters: The platform is intended to reduce manual processing time, centralize records for audit purposes and improve transparency and applicant tracking for county Lodgers Tax grants.

Ending: The board approved the procurement; staff will execute the contract and begin implementation and training.