Orange to upgrade its financial accounting and record-keeping systems.  Mayor describes existing information technology system as antiquated and inadequate.

Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr. announced today that Orange plans to replace its information technology systems with ones that will enable the city to have more accurate and current data for making management and budget decisions, complying with state and municipal legal requirements, and keeping taxpayers informed about the details of City finances.

In a cooperative effort with the City Council, Orange will create an Information Technology Advisory Committee to advise the administration and City Council on technology issues. Mayor Hawkins said that the outmoded and obsolete technology currently in use dates back to 1999 and was not adequate to begin with.  Today, the failed system is expensive to maintain and hinders the City’s ability to effectively manage day-to-day operations. The advisory committee will include representatives from the administration, the council, and citizens of Orange.

Concurrently, the Orange Department of Finance has retained a part time IT specialist, Saheed Baksh to make the existing systems work better and recommend the most cost effective way to upgrade them.

Upgrading the financial accounting system is one of the major recommendations of the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee‘s April 15th 2011 report that states, “The city cannot hope to solve its financial problems and become more efficient and transparent without a major upgrade of the financial accounting system itself.” The report recommended that Orange seek outside grants to fund the project or failing that, to bond or seek emergency funding. The city’s independent audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30 2010, prepared by the accounting firm of McEnerney, Brady & Company, documented past discrepancies, weak internal controls, and inadequate record-keeping, most of which could be remedied by better accounting, reporting and record keeping systems.

Statement by Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr
“I welcome the proposal by Council President Hassan Abdul-Rasheed and the Citizens Budget Advisory
Committee to enable citizen involvement in the upgrade of our accounting and record keeping systems. Their suggestion is in line with my Call to Service initiative to encourage residents to become more involved in city government. Our existing computer systems are antiquated and outdated. It is extremely difficult and expensive to utilize, service and maintain computer systems that are twelve years old. They hinder our ability to set spending and budget priorities and to keep the public informed on the state of city finances. Our finance department is already researching alternative computer hardware and software systems. We look forward to citizen involvement in that process.”