ARCHAIC COMPUTER COSTS TAXPAYERS By Loleta A. Didrickson, Comptroller, State of Illinois

It is no secret there is a dinosaur in state government. The Comptroller's computerized financial management system, which records $33 billion in annual state spending, is a technological relic for which parts are scarce. The state pays Unisys Corp. $360,000 a year for three technicians to keep the 21-year-old system running. If you think that's excessive, read on.

The bottom line: The state writes some 14 million checks a year at a cost of $57.50 each. In other words, it costs the state more than $800 million a year just to process invoices and payrolls and write checks. By comparison, private industry processes checks at a cost of about $10 each.

The outdated system also causes a lot of duplication. Illinois writes itself 94,000 checks each year from one agency or fund to another. To put it another way, it costs taxpayers more than $5.3 million a year for state agencies to shove money back and forth. The truth is: 85 of the 110 state agencies maintain their own redundant accounting and computer systems. These agencies have spending authority, while the Comptroller's office writes all the checks and we're not on-line with any of them.

Is there an easier, less costly way to do business in Illinois? Yes, but it requires replacing the current accounting system with a centralized, modern system which would net the state an initial savings of $120 million. Then, the state would save more than $24 million annually by eliminating the 85 redundant accounting systems.

One example of the inefficiency is the monthly payments to vendors. Last year at least 40 vendors received 1,000 or more separate payment checks from the state. One vendor received more than 6,500 payments last year-that's an average of 26 per day. Federal Express and Amoco Oil got more than 3,000 separate payments each. Computerland and Phillips Petroleum got about 2,800 each and United Parcel Service received more than 2,600 checks at $57.50 per payment!

There is an urgency to replacing the current system. The Unisys company has informed my office that the computer system will not be maintained beyond 1997. The company will no longer produce the parts needed to keep the system operating.

Illinois lags behind many other states who have switched to a centralized financial and accounting system; California, New York, Michigan and even Mississippi, to name a few. Currently, it's costing the taxpayers of Illinois $30,000 a month to keep the old system going.

The future is now in the hands of the General Assembly and the Governor. This month, legislators will be asked to approve a budget for the new centralized accounting system. Our hope is that they will pass a budget that will carry us out of the dark ages and into the technology age. •

Page 18 / Illinois Municipal Review / May 1996