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Williams County authorizes auditor, treasurer to pursue new property-records software
Summary
Commissioners unanimously authorized the auditor and treasurer to move forward with ISSG as the county's new real-estate software vendor, citing multi-year service failures with the incumbent system and anticipated benefits including digital permanent records and e-billing. Implementation is projected no earlier than late 2027.
The Williams County Board of Commissioners voted March 5 to authorize the county auditor and treasurer to proceed with contracting for a new countywide property-records system from ISSG, after staff described persistent performance problems with the current vendor and a comparative review of three potential suppliers.
Auditor Vickie (VG) told the board the county has used the MVP system since 2007 but began seeing degraded service around 2018. "What used to take one or two days to resolve is now taking greater than 16 days," VG said, adding that slow responses have delayed settlement work that affects taxing entities. County staff presented three vendor price proposals: X-Soft (a quoted $496,000 implementation and $95,000 per year), Vision (about $108,000 per year with no implementation charge) and ISSG (about $159,000 per year, no separate implementation fee). VG recommended ISSG on the basis of shorter response times and features that include e-billing, address verification and the ability to upload permanent conveyance records.
Commissioners asked about contract terms and funding. VG said the vendor contract caps annual increases at 4 percent and the likely implementation window is the second half of 2027. The current system costs roughly $81,000 a year; Vickie said the real-estate fund currently pays about 36 percent of that support cost and the general fund covers the remainder. "They have a max increase of 4% on an annual basis," VG said of ISSG. Commissioner Terry N. Rummel noted that the county must balance costs against service reliability in order to maintain timely settlements for schools and other taxing districts.
Commissioner Scott A. Lirot moved to authorize the treasurer and auditor to move forward with the recommended ISSG solution; Commissioner Bartley E. Westfall seconded the motion. The roll-call vote was unanimous in favor.
The board packet shows staff expect the subscription cost to be payable from the same mix of real-estate and general-fund dollars that cover the current system. VG told the board the vendor can host the county website and that the system would reduce paper storage needs by keeping permanent records digitally accessible.
Next steps: staff will begin contracting discussions with ISSG and return to the board with finalized contract terms and a timeline for implementation. Commissioners asked that any agreement include clear service-level commitments and that staff continue to explore options for limiting future vendor-service risk.
