Huber Heights — City staff on March 18 recommended replacing the city’s aging financial software with a cloud-based suite that will handle accounting, payroll, utilities and analytics, and a separate transparency dashboard for public budget access.

Assistant staff presenter Alex and Finance Director Jim Bell briefed council on a multi-vendor approach: (1) SSI Software Solutions (the proposed core financial system and VIP analytics), (2) ClearGov for public transparency and capital/budget interaction, and (3) RightStuff (already approved for timekeeping) to integrate timesheets and payroll. Staff said the chosen vendors provided a sandbox environment, migration support and local vendor presence for training and service.

Why it matters: staff said the current systems are not cloud-native and were cumbersome after the city's prior cyber incident. ClearGov will host interactive public dashboards and accommodate historic fiscal data; SSI’s VIP modules will provide forecasting, reporting and a sandbox to test scenarios without affecting live data. The vendors’ implementation and training plans, staff said, include in-person and virtual sessions and user conferences. Jim told council the finance team will work to migrate at least a decade of historical data to support forecasting and reporting.

Costs and schedule: staff presented the one-time setup and multi-year licensing costs in the work packet and said the vendor offered to spread implementation costs over the contract term interest-free. Alex said the priority is to have the 2026 budgeting module live by August so staff can solicit department inputs for the next fiscal year; full operational rollout could continue through late 2025 and into 2026. Jim said the project is labor intensive for staff during the transition but will deliver time savings and better controls once live. “This software is going to provide a lot of efficiencies for us,” Jim said.

Questions from council focused on training, tax module continuity and timeline. Staff told members the city will retain the existing tax system (Civica) in the short term because state-level tax policy creates uncertainty, and that the new suite integrates with utility billing and payroll modules. Council asked for a post-implementation report on efficiencies and staff said they would present measurable outcomes after a full year of operation.

The council did not take a final contract vote at the work session; staff asked to move the recommended awards to the formal Monday agenda for adoption.