Anacortes council approves $941,697 contract for new enterprise resource planning system

The Anacortes City Council on May 27 authorized Mayor Miller to sign contract 23-254-IDSDash002 with Tyler Technologies Inc. for $941,697 to provide enterprise resource planning software and implementation services for the city.

Finance Manager Rhonda Peck told the council the contract covers implementation services and recurring software licensing: "So the contract in front of you for consideration is just over, $940,000. It's made up of 2 main components. 1 is implementation services for roughly 370,000 ... and then we also have, component that is, roughly a hundred and $90,000 a year for 3 years, which is our our software license." The council moved and passed the measure by voice vote.

The project is citywide and will be implemented in phases so departments can transition sequentially. Peck said phase 1 will begin in July and focus on finance, phase 2 (utility billing) is scheduled for January 2026, and phase 3 (human resources and payroll) will follow later in 2026. The contract also includes third‑party payment processing fees and was negotiated after an RFP and vendor demonstrations. City staff engaged a consultant to develop RFP requirements and standardize vendor demonstrations.

Councilmembers pressed staff on costs, timelines and integration. Councilmember Walters asked how recurring fees compare with the city’s current on‑premises support: "We currently only spend roughly $80,000 a year with Tyler," Peck said; the new annual software fee is about $190,000. Staff said moving to a software‑as‑a‑service model should reduce internal server and maintenance time for IT but still require some IT support for upgrades and desktop configuration. Peck said the city negotiated roughly $350,000 in savings from initial estimates and that a one‑time implementation component is roughly $370,000.

Staff described the document flow between systems: Tyler’s content management will accept initial attachments and then nightly processes will transfer records to Laserfiche for long‑term retention, so Laserfiche remains the city’s records retention system. Council members also asked about concurrent operation of the old and new systems during rollout; staff said there will be a period of overlap while each module is commissioned and then the legacy function will be shut down module by module.

Councilmembers and staff described the procurement as lengthy and collaborative, involving demonstrations from eight vendors, internal business‑process analysis, and the external consultant to develop requirements. The contract authorizes the mayor to execute the agreement and begins the planning phase in July.

The council did not attach additional conditions to the authorization; staff will begin project planning and return to council as needed for budgetary or schedule changes.