Commissioners approve FY24–25 budget amendments that include $717,402 Odyssey cloud support agreement

Brazos County commissioners voted on Feb. 25 to approve FY 2024–25 budget amendments 19‑01 through 19‑05; discussion centered on a $717,402 annual payment for Odyssey software now hosted in the cloud.

Nina, the county budget officer, told the court that budget amendment 19‑02 affects a special election services fund and that the money referenced is restricted by law to election services under section 31.1 of the Election Code. Nina said the amendment covers “licenses and contracts” needed for the year.

A longer discussion followed about a $717,402 payment described as Odyssey SaaS (software as a service) and related support costs for the county’s justice software. Eric (IT staff) explained the county formerly ran Odyssey in its own data center but recently migrated the system to the cloud; the hosting and support vendor, Tyler Technologies, now runs the software on its hardware and charges increased annual fees. Eric said the county previously conducted an extensive, multi-year replacement and selection process before selecting the vendor and that converting to different justice software would be a “tremendous undertaking.”

Commissioners asked whether the county goes out for competitive bids for such services and whether alternatives exist; staff responded that replacing a system used by courts, prosecutors and law enforcement is a lengthy, complex process and that the current vendor has a large footprint in Texas. The court then voted; a voice vote was taken and the motion carried.

The record shows budget amendments 19‑01 through 19‑05 were approved by the commissioners on Feb. 25. The meeting transcript did not record individual roll‑call tallies for the vote; approval was recorded by voice vote.