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Continued: Editorial: The need for speed in city of St. Paul

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MAKING THE CASE

• "It would be criminal not to do this. We have been throwing taxpayer dollars away.''

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman

•••

• "Here's the analogy: Our system is like a rusty old bike. It takes us a long time to get there, and we can only make a few trips. We need a reliable station wagon that will get us where we need to go faster and more efficiently.''

Andrea Casselton, technology and communications director, city of St. Paul

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In St. Paul, tracking a simple municipal purchase order can take weeks, sometimes months. Sorting out the cost of items such as playground equipment and office supplies can eat up hours of staff time. And even City Council members have a tough time getting timely employee data as they craft the city budget.

It's difficult for city officials to determine when checks have been issued, so there's no fast way to determine whether departments are on budget. Basic supply orders can be so cumbersome that employees buy the items and expense them, often at higher prices than necessary. Departments use 35 different computer programs to keep track of people and spending, and most of them can't talk to each other. And within the past year, a weeklong system crash cost the city about $40,000.

Working with a 24-year-old, cobbled-together computer accounting system costs St. Paul an estimated $5.5 million a year. That's no way to run a city in an era of lightning-fast technology.

That's why, even in these fiscally tight times, council members should approve Mayor Chris Coleman's request for a new, multimillion-dollar computer system. Coleman wants to buy a state-of-the-art system designed by Lawson Software, a downtown St. Paul firm. Software, equipment, training and consulting fees would cost $14.4 million and be financed by issuing a bond. The debt would be repaid at about $1.8 million annually over 10 years, and the city says system-generated savings would begin to cover debt service by 2011.

The system would pay for itself in relatively short order, then start saving the city more than $4 million a year by 2014, according to an analysis. It also would improve the city's financial management and transparency and give staff more time for customer service.

The investment is long overdue. More than a decade ago, city officials started discussing the need for better accounting programs. And in the late 1990s they spent more than $1 million exploring the idea but were not satisfied with the results and backed off the project. After that, when budget cuts began, accounting technology fell to the back burner. So the city just kept on patching up the old system and tolerating the slow flow of information.

Since Coleman was elected in 2006, the city has analyzed its department operations with an eye toward efficiency. Audits of the fire and police departments confirmed that an updated accounting system was needed. So about 18 months ago, a working group began reviewing bids from vendors.

While St. Paul has cut millions from its budget in recent years, it's been tough to argue for additional spending. When recreation centers are being closed and street maintenance is being reduced, taxpayers might question devoting millions to computers.

But this basic infrastructure investment is crucial -- both for city operations and for citizens. Over time, the savings generated by faster, more nimble financial management will free up more dollars and staff time for citizen services.

St. Paul has been limping along with a Flintstones system while some other regional governments, including Hennepin and Ramsey counties and the city of Minneapolis, are on their second generation of Jetsons technology.

It's time for the capital city to join the 21st century.

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