As the year

2000 draws closer, Coweta County is learning that costs

are rising to battle Y2K problems.

This week,

the Coweta County Board of Commissioners approved nearly

$40,000 for the assessor's office to buy a new computer

program that is Y2K compliant.

The

assessor's old computer company, J. Meidl Systems,

informed tax assessor Mickey Rogers in January that it

would not be able to provide service to help the office

through the possible crisis.

"He

told us he could help get us up and running after we

crashed," Rogers said.

When Rogers

learned of the problem, he immediately started looking

for solutions. He discovered a software program created

in more than 100 counties in the state.

Rogers

investigated the program further and said the county

would be able to count on a lot better service than Maher

had been providing.

Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter had no problem with

finding funds for the expense, but said the matter should

have been handled earlier.

"You've

known this was coming. You've been complaining about our

service from that company for two years," he said.

Instead of

using the county's midyear budget process as a way of

getting more funds, Hunter urged that department heads do

a better job of creating a budget during November and

December.

"The

worst thing you can base a budget on is last year's

budget, since every year is different," he said.

Hunter said

he was not singling Rogers out, but was getting tired of

some department heads using the midyear budget analysis

as a way of compensating for not spending enough time in

evaluating their budgetary needs.

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