Council approves five‑year land records contract; town to plan budget for rising vendor fees
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Summary
The council authorized a five‑year contract for land records services with Avenue/Carahsoft after the clerk said the platform and a new fraud‑alert feature are essential; finance staff said the town will need to set aside budgeted funds in future years to cover rising contract costs.
The North Smithfield Town Council on July 21 approved a five‑year contract with vendor Avenue (Carahsoft parent) to provide land‑record transaction processing, credit‑card payment services and an optional fraud‑alert feature the town requested.
Town Clerk staff said the vendor’s platform is effectively required to process paid transactions for notary services, business registrations, recordings and other office services, and that the vendor is retiring its older system in favor of a newer platform. The clerk told the council that adding a fraud‑alert service — a feature that notifies residents if recordings appear under their name or address — increased near‑term costs and prompted the town to accelerate adoption of the new platform.
The contract covers five annual payments and the clerk said historical land‑record fees have been used to support the service to date. The clerk and town administrator told the council the fund will support costs for several years but that the town should begin budgeting general‑fund contributions to smooth future increases. One councilor suggested phasing the general fund contribution in over multiple budgets; staff agreed to propose a schedule to allocate part of the cost to the general fund and part to the land‑record retention fund.
A motion to approve the contract and authorize payment over the five‑year term passed on roll call.
