Purchase by county bugs sheriff

Upset about his tight budget, he grumbles about Pasco's new computer system.

By David Decamp, Times Staff Writer
Published February 16, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Sheriff Bob White requested a spending hike of nearly $12-million for 2007-08.

NEW PORT RICHEY - To make his case against budget cuts, Sheriff Bob White wanted to turn the debate back onto Pasco County's own spending.

White said the same county officials who pinch his budget requests ought to be questioned about a computer system they bought.

"They spent $1.2-million to make the county agenda look pretty," White said at a Jan. 30 news conference. "I can't get my arms around that."

But Pasco budget director Mike Nurrenbrock said Friday that the computer project is about more than new agendas - they're just the first visible part of a larger improvement of record-keeping countywide.

Pasco already had computerized agendas online, allowing people to download supporting information for each measure handled by the County Commission. The new system, launched last fall, produces a variation of the same thing.

Approved quietly in 2006, the new system has cost more than $1.1-million so far, Nurrenbrock said.

"It's not just to make the agenda look pretty," said Nurrenbrock, who oversees the information technology department. "It's document management. It's record management. It's workflow to increase efficiency. ... It's the ability to retrieve documents without going through 27 file cabinets."

According to a 2006 county report justifying the project, the system will reduce the incidence of lost documents and mistakes and improve access to records. It will decrease the time employees need to prepare and process documents and send them to each other. It also is supposed to reduce the cost for storage and for buying paper.

For example, it eventually will allow people to search all records about a development project by entering its name into a computer, instead of traipsing to county offices to review files. Employees no longer will have to make the deadline for a courier's pickup or wait days for documents to be approved and returned, Nurrenbrock said.

However, Nurrenbrock could not say how much money Pasco will save by investing in the system, which went live last fall.

White's spokesman, Doug Tobin, did not return messages seeking comment Friday afternoon. In January, Tobin questioned why reporters didn't appear as interested in scrutinizing the nitty-gritty of the county's budget as much as the Sheriff's Office's. He cast it as a case of the county finding "$1.2-million so we can have nicer documents" while not making public safety a higher spending priority.

For 2007-08, White requested a spending hike of nearly $12-million. The commission approved an increase of less than $3-million after tense talks with White last summer.

On June 27, 2006, the County Commission approved buying the new system through HCL Technologies. Records show the deal was among 89 measures approved as part of that day's consent agenda, which typically has items with little opposition or debate.

It was budgeted in 2005-06 using the property-tax-heavy general fund. The Sheriff's Office relies on that fund for its money, too.

The initial version of the contract was worth $890,000 for the first two years of work and new software. However, Nurrenbrock said the cost went up after the county added more employees as users and negotiated more service and maintenance by HCL. Future maintenance service should drive the price higher.

The system was approved before state lawmakers told local governments to cut property taxes in 2007 and before Florida voters forced more cuts in a Jan. 29 referendum.

Commissioner Ann Hildebrand said she would have to see whether the system produces savings before judging whether its purchase was justified in light of tight finances. She said she is optimistic it will "because we've become conditioned to believe it saves time and it saves money."

During the past two months, the commission has encountered glitches on the system - an incorrect recommendation listed here, a missing document there. The judgment from Hildebrand:

"It's all right," she said. "I'm just happy to have an agenda."

David DeCamp can be reached at ddecamp@sptimes.com or 800 333-7505, ext. 6232.

[Last modified February 15, 2008, 21:36:35]