BENTON - County commissioners signed contracts for the implementation of the county’s geographic information system during their regular meeting Tuesday.
“We think this will be a big help for all the school districts,” said Presiding Commissioner Martin Priggel. During previous meetings, county officials discussed how the GIS will help them pick up on missed land parcels whose owners aren’t currently paying taxes to their respective school districts and other taxing entities.
Commissioner Jamie Burger said the GIS will feature “layer upon layer of correct information.”
The bid by Midland GIS Solutions of Sunrise Beach for $159,530 was accepted by commissioners. “We thought it was the best bid,” Priggel said.
Burger said the GIS vendors from Illinois and Tennessee proposed using proprietary software whereas Midland uses a generic software which most of the other area counties are also using.
Teresa Houchin, county assessor, said she is looking into Homeland Security funding to cover part of the cost of setting up the base map.
The GIS will include at least 20 layers initially, according to Priggel, including layers showing: drainage, fire, school, commissioner, water, library and ambulance districts; voting precincts; political townships; the Federal Emergency Management Agency flood plain; county bridges; roads; topographic features; city limits; forests; land classifications and soil grades.
A wall map layer will also be included. E-911 dispatching will be able to locate calls on the maps as well, according to officials.
Houchin said she will check to see if enterprise and tax increment financing zone layers will be included among the initial layers. “It might be additional,” she said, adding that they may need to supply boundary maps for those layers still.
Commissioners also accepted Midland’s proposal for the base map’s aerial photography. “The whole contract’s through Midland,” Burger said. “This company subcontracts through Midland.”
GE Energy will perform the photography for $43,150. The cost will be divided between Scott County, Sikeston and Scott City with Homeland Security grants covering most of the cost.
The aerial photography will also include portions of Sikeston that are in New Madrid County.
“It will be two years to get this fully implemented,” Priggel said. The contract has December 2006 as the completion date.
“We’re going to try to do the flying at the end of February or the beginning of March 2005,” Houchin said of the photography.
The county is arranging payment for the GIS over a period of five years and may get additional funding from the assessment technology fund approved by the state legislature last year, Priggel said.
The assessment technology fund receives money from the collector’s office of up to $50,000 per year.
“We hope to get more grants to supplement this, help pay for it, too,” Priggel said.
Assessor’s office staffer Debbie Evans will maintain the GIS and make corrections, Houchin said: “Every quarter she’ll do an update on the computer.”
