Countywide : Board OKs $5.8 Million for Data Processing

The County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved another $5.8 million for a project to consolidate data processing for court and law enforcement operations. Supervisor Marian Bergeson warned, however, that the bankrupt county needs to keep a tighter rein on such costs in the future.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors agreed to negotiate a contract worth about $10 million for a separate data processing system to handle county operations. Bergeson on Tuesday questioned why that system couldn’t also service court and law enforcement needs.

Alan Slater, executive officer of the Orange County Superior Court, told the board that while efforts were being made to coordinate the two systems as much as possible, the county data processing system cannot adequately handle the court and law enforcement workload.

“It’s a very cost-effective system,” Slater said of the court system, adding that the money for it will come from the court system’s budget, not from the county’s discretionary spending.

The board approved the spending request unanimously, but Bergeson said the county must scrutinize such costs in the future and asked the county staff to research how much it would cost to have two separate systems.