County assessor seeks board approval to hire contractor for state reporting scripts to speed Simpatico upgrade
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Summary
Kootenai County’s assessor and staff described delays obtaining state tax-commission scripts needed for the Simpatico reporting upgrade and proposed using the county’s XTR contractor to produce the scripts for a fee; commissioners asked staff to scope costs and coordinate with treasurer and IT.
Jolina Hildreth and Bailey Kovacs briefed Kootenai County commissioners on May 6 about ongoing work to upgrade to the state’s Simpatico reporting system and the outstanding need for scripting support from the state tax commission.
Hildreth, presenting the Assess/Collect/Distribute committee update, said the assessor, treasurer and clerk’s offices have been meeting regularly and that the upgrade will change reporting processes that affect taxing districts. She said the group is waiting on programming scripts from the Idaho State Tax Commission (identified in the meeting by name) and that Sandy Bowens at the state has been the contact for that programming.
Bailey Kovacs, Kootenai County assessor, told commissioners the tax commission’s in-house resources have limited bandwidth and that requestors often receive scripts late in the cycle. Kovacs said the county’s XTR contractor has the technical expertise to produce the scripts and recommended asking the board to authorize funds for XTR to prepare the scripts and then share them with the state so the county can realize Simpatico benefits sooner.
Kovacs said XTR has reviewed prior state scripting (citing a past example tied to legislative change described as House Bill 292) and that XTR charged roughly $1,000 to review a prior script; XTR has proprietary knowledge of the county’s software and can coordinate with the state tax commission to validate the scripts.
Commissioners expressed interest in the approach but asked for a defined scope of work and cost estimate before committing funds. They also requested that the assessor involve the treasurer’s office, IT staff and other affected departments in planning and that any contracted work include coordination with the state tax commission so the scripts are accurate.
The board directed staff to investigate contracting with XTR to produce the scripts, return with scope and cost estimates, and involve the treasurer and IT in that effort. No formal vote was taken at the meeting; commissioners agreed to consider the proposal once a scope and estimate are presented.
