As the year 2000 draws closer, Coweta County is learning that costs are rising to battle Y2K problems.

This week, the Coweta County Board of Commissioners approved nearly $40,000 for the assessor's office to buy a new computer program that is Y2K compliant.

The assessor's old computer company, J. Meidl Systems, informed tax assessor Mickey Rogers in January that it would not be able to provide service to help the office through the possible crisis.

“He told us he could help get us up and running after we crashed,” Rogers said.

When Rogers learned of the problem, he immediately started looking for solutions. He discovered a software program created by the Department of Revenue that is currently being used in more than 100 counties in the state.

Rogers investigated the program further and said the county would be able to count on a lot better service than Maher had been providing.

Commissioner Vernon “Mutt” Hunter had no problem with finding funds for the expense, but said the matter should have been handled earlier.

“You've known this was coming. You've been complaining about our service from that company for two years,” he said.

Instead of using the county's midyear budget process as a way of getting more funds, Hunter urged that department heads do a better job of creating a budget during November and December.

“The worst thing you can base a budget on is last year's budget, since every year is different,” he said.

Hunter said he was not singling Rogers out, but was getting tired of some department heads using the midyear budget analysis as a way of compensating for not spending enough time in evaluating their budgetary needs.

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