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Wichita County approves digital jury-pay system from Tyler Technologies
Summary
After a presentation on payment delays, the commissioners approved a $14,125 Tyler Technologies contract to switch juror payments from mailed checks to a digital disbursement system intended to reduce lost checks, fraud risk and staff time.
Wichita County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a Tyler Technologies payments system intended to speed juror disbursements and reduce unclaimed checks.
The court voted 5-0 to accept a Tyler Technologies quote for $14,125 to implement a jury-pay disbursement product integrated with the county’s jury-management workflow. The purchase will be paid from a non-departmental line (1004090), with the county judge authorized to sign the agreement.
County and Tyler officials said mailed checks cause delays, returned mail and staff time spent responding to calls about lost checks. Heath Rosenstein, senior account executive at Tyler Technologies, told the court that digital disbursements eliminate routing and account numbers printed on paper checks and deliver an immediate text or email notifying jurors their funds are available. “Checks are a little bit slow nowadays,” Rosenstein said. “Lost checks in the mail ... affect our staff because we're having to stop what we're doing, take the phone call, answer it, and then get back on the train.”
Rosenstein described options jurors could use after receiving the payment notification: an issued debit card, instant transfer to a bank account, ACH, PayPal or Venmo, or a paper check on request. He said the system also automates returning funds the court does not claim to the county after the statutory unclaimed-funds period, and can be used for other county disbursements such as election-worker pay or emergency relief.
The vendor estimated the county’s first-year cost at about $14,125 based on the county’s anticipated payment volume (Tyler also proposed a per-disbursement cost estimated between $1.25 and $1.50). Rosenstein and county staff said existing historical unclaimed funds (unredeemed jury checks) would cover much of the initial cost: the presenter said Wichita County has roughly 3,000 outstanding checks from 2023 and prior that total more than $30,000.
Commissioners asked about implementation timing and cost controls. Rosenstein said implementation typically takes about 120–150 days after the court approves the agreement. County staff said the auditor’s office will track expenditures and that the first years’ net cost would be offset by funds the county currently remits as unclaimed property.
The court’s approval follows a demonstration and question-and-answer session in which staff raised reconciliation, fraud-reduction and constituent-service benefits.
The contract and the vendor materials note the system can also be expanded to pay election workers or other program disbursements, with separate account lines and cards if the court elects to add those functions later.
