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Appraiser seeks to replace decade-old parcel search with Schneider Geospatial platform; first-year costs manageable, ongoing support lower
Summary
Riley County Appraiser recommended staff sign a professional services agreement with Schneider Geospatial (Beacon) to modernize parcel search; staff said implementation costs are slightly higher in year one but ongoing support would be cheaper than current vendor.
Anna Berson of the Riley County Appraiser's Office asked the commission to approve staff signing a professional services agreement with Schneider Geospatial (also known as Beacon) to replace the county’s current parcel search vendor. Berson said the county has used the current vendor since February 2008 and that the existing platform is outdated and requires extra IT work to keep data transfers functioning.
Nut graf: The appraiser’s office says the new platform will provide a modern, user-friendly interface and better internal tools, reduce IT maintenance work and modestly lower long-term costs. Berson recommended conditional approval for staff to sign the agreement, pending final vendor signatures and legal review.
Berson described the costs: implementation and first-year expenses are about $24,000; the county currently pays roughly $21,000 a year to the existing vendor for support. Ongoing support for the new platform would be about $15,000 annually. "For the new product purchase and the implementation, we're only at a $3,000 a year difference, and then the ongoing support is only 15,000. So we will be saving," Berson said. She and IT staff told commissioners they expect to transition users and paid subscribers in the fall and aim for overlap and testing before the current contract expires in December.
Corey Meyer, IT/GIS director, said the current vendor's aging hosting environment requires extra county staff time for manual downgrades and dual-server work. "If you've been out to the parcel search ... that is the product that we're talking about that we would replace," Meyer said, noting the change will reduce behind-the-scenes IT workload.
Ending: Commissioners directed staff to finalize contract details, with legal clarifications pending, and asked for the formal agreement to be brought back for a brief business meeting item once vendor approvals and counsel signoffs are complete.
