Lancaster is spending $17,000 annually on a 3-year contract for unused software

 

Photo by regularguy.eth on Unsplash

Since 2021 the Town of Lancaster has paid $17,000/year for use of OpenGov's budgeting and planning package.   It has never been implemented, and at the moment there's no intention to ever use it.  The town has a three year contract with OpenGov that will end next June.  

The Finance Committee discussed the contract with town finance director Cheryl Gariepy at their Tuesday evening meeting.   She said that OpenGov had declined to release the town from the contract and it would continue through the end of FY2024 at the current rate of $17,000 annually.

Finance Chair Susan Smiley suggested it would have made generating the budget book much easier.  Ms. Gariepy indicated that she did not know if there was any appetite to ever use the software, but that she felt there was other software that could accomplish the same goals for less money.

It seems to be a nice software package:  browsing their other clients I found Alleghany County's OpenGov site.  Check it out here:  it would be outstanding to have this level of visibility in Lancaster.

 

 

OpenGov sells a few packages -- I requested a copy of our invoice for this fiscal year and confirmed that we have the "Budgeting & Planning" package.

        

It stings to see this level of waste at a time when much less money would have kept the Recycling Center open for years. 

A three year contract would date back to when Orlando Pacheco was town adminstrator, and Jason Allison was chair of the Select Board.