Software woes bump tax date

Williams on latest IT issue: “It’s our fault”

ROSLYN RYAN

Editor

Adding another chapter to the saga of Powhatan’s relationship with Keystone Information Systems, the Powhatan Board of Supervisors held an emergency meeting on May 17 after ongoing issues with the company’s software forced the county to move its tax payment deadline from June 5 to June 20.

According to county administrator Bret Schardein, county staff had been working around the clock in attempt to identify discrepancies in residents’ tax bills before they were mailed out.

“We wanted to make sure that when we put them out they were as accurate as they could be,” said Schardein. “And fortunately they did find the errors, rather than sending them out and having the public find them.”

Williams Schardein

began when the county signed a contract with the company on Nov. 28, 2020. While the software is used across all county departments, it has consistently been criticized by county treasurer Becky Nunnally and commissioner of the revenue Jamie Timberlake for creating headaches for county staff and residents alike.

The tax bill issue is only the latest in a series of problems connected to the Keystone Information Systems software implementation, a process that

As part of a report she provided to supervisors on Jan. 11, Nunnally wrote that “we cannot trust anything the system tells us. We have no faith whatsoever in the data provided.”

Timberlake went so far as to tell the board during an update on personal property and real estate that there were functions – such as the automated mass appraisal system – he won’t put in Keystone’s hands because of lack of confidence in the process.

During a supervisors meeting last January, the board even broached the topic of suing the company if a suitable fix for the ongoing issues could not be found.

District 1 supervisor David Williams, speaking after the emergency measure had been