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Contentious vote: committee advances recommendation to award county tax-software contract to Harris despite treasurer’s reservations
Summary
The committee voted to send a recommendation to County Council to award the county’s CAMA (tax appraisal/collection) contract to Harris (cloud implementation) after lengthy debate; Treasurer Mary Walls and the assessor raised concerns that finalists' products were not finished and questioned aspects of the RFP scoring and process.
After roughly 90 minutes of debate, the Finance & Administration Committee voted on Aug. 18 to forward to County Council the administration’s recommendation to award the county’s CAMA (computer-assisted mass appraisal) contract to Harris with an estimated contract cost in the $3.3 million range (with contingency), while several senior county finance officials expressed procedural objections.
Procurement Director Dave Thomas summarized the 14–18 month procurement and evaluation process, saying seven firms responded to the RFP, the team shortlisted vendors and held demos, and Harris emerged as the top-scoring finalist after negotiation. Thomas said the county negotiated price and implementation terms and recommended moving forward to Council for final award.
Treasurer Mary Walls delivered a prepared memorandum dated Oct. 18, 2024, that she summarized in committee and later submitted to members. Walls said she and her team did not score the final round and expressed “significant concern that the RFP process and the selections before us are deficient,” including that "neither of the two finalists have a completed product," and asked either to restart the RFP with issues addressed or to update the county’s existing software instead. The assessor raised similar concerns about implementation timing and whether the product set was mature.
Procurement and other staff responded that the committee’s evaluation process followed established procurement rules, multiple county users participated in scoring and demos, and Harris has implementations in other South Carolina counties (some modules in use, others being implemented). Multiple council members said while they had reservations, the county needs a modernized system and the procurement team followed procedures.
A motion to postpone the item to the next Finance Committee meeting failed on a roll-call vote. A subsequent motion to forward the recommended award to County Council passed on a roll call, sending the contract recommendation to Council for final consideration. The committee recorded dissenting statements from the treasurer and the assessor in the public record; council members asked staff to circulate memoranda and scoring sheets for further review prior to the County Council vote.
