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Liberty Lake staff recommend switching to Tyler accounting system to cut finance workload
Summary
City staff briefed council on replacing Springbrook with Tyler’s modular ERP, citing AP automation and time-and-attendance features. Implementation is planned over eight months, with an anticipated hard cutover in March and ongoing software fees beginning 2027.
City staff on Tuesday recommended the city begin implementing a replacement for its 20‑year‑old Springbrook accounting software, citing efficiency gains in accounts payable, time‑and‑attendance and expanded reporting.
Kyle, a staff presenter, said the finance team evaluated six systems and favored Tyler’s modular approach because it lets the city pick only needed modules rather than pay for a full-suite product. He said the city had budgeted about $75,000 for implementation in 2026 and expects ongoing service costs of roughly $48,000 per year beginning in 2027. Kyle said Tyler’s automated accounts‑payable feature and improved time tracking will reduce what he estimated to be 60–80 staff hours per week currently spent on manual invoice and payroll work.
Staff proposed an eight‑month implementation starting in July with a hard cutover to the new system planned for March of next year. Kyle said the vendor agreed not to charge software fees for the remainder of 2026, and that the one‑time implementation estimate is about $79,000; training and phased parallel operation with Springbrook are built into the timeline. He told the council the solution is cloud‑hosted and can be expanded with additional modules later if the city needs them.
Council members asked whether hardware upgrades would be required (Kyle said no), whether the implementation cost includes staff training (yes), whether the system is cloud based (yes) and whether outsourcing accounts payable had been considered (staff evaluated outsourcing but concluded the public‑entity controls and premium costs weighed against it).
Kyle said staff plan to give Springbrook a 30‑day notice during the winter and coordinate a simultaneous offload and cutover in March. He said a request to put final contract and cost items on the July 7 council agenda is likely so council can act on implementation costs and schedule any additional direction.
The council did not take a formal vote during the briefing; staff will place the implementation item on a future agenda for decision.
