The city of Fairburn has some

serious issues with its present utility billing software that is part

of the Fund Balance financial system.

Utility billing software has

lost money due to inaccurate billing of residential and commercial customers

on a frequent basis, staff said.

Because the present software

is unable to calculate commercial, demand-based billing, residential customers

often receive bills that are not reflected accurately in the financial

system.

It has been estimated by staff

that losses from incorrect billing could be at least $25,000 a year, and

likely more.

Other concerns include the

software not being interfaced with a cable system and having lack of support

and development from the fund balance.

Because every customer begins

service the first month on a pro-rated basis or changes their programming,

staff has to manually input this information into the system.

In a memo, technology consultant

Brad Williams said, "The focus of Fund Balance is more on accounting

functions like General Ledger with utility billing software being seen

as a 'throw-in'."

"There is only one other

municipality that uses their utility billing software, and that is to

serve fewer than 200 electric customers. It is not their focus and they

do not have the necessary knowledge of utility billing," he added.

Staff has been evaluating replacement

software that will remedy the problems and be capable of handling future

billing needs for all utilities. Any replacement system would also need

to integrate into the present financial software seamlessly, staff said.

Three vendors did demonstrations

and references were checked on Tailored Business Systems (TBS), Harris

Computer Systems and Creative Logic Technologies.

Harris Computer Systems has

a product with a few hundred user base that includes local governments

like the city of LaGrange, City of Dalton, Crisp County and large clients

regionally that include City of Daytona Beach and others.

Brad Williams said, "The

referral from several of these governments was very positive. Staff was

impressed with the product demonstration given in Fairburn as well as

an onsite visit to LaGrange to see exactly how the utility billing is

performed through Harris."

City Council agreed to spend

$75,000 on the Harris software and software maintenance.