Buffalo Grove buys software that will allow online bill paying

Buffalo Grove moved its residents closer to online bill paying this week, when the village board approved new financial system software

The board approved New World Systems as the provider.

Ultimately, the software will enable village residents to make payments for fees online, as well as access their records.

New World has worked with more than 16 Illinois communities, including Mount Prospect, Palatine, Lombard, Des Plaines and Geneva. The board approved a contract for $396,600 for the software, further authorizing the village manager to spend additional funds on hardware, travel and training, not to exceed $475,600.

Finance Director Scott Anderson said the village has been using the same financial software for the past 17 years. He said the finance and IT staff have developed spreadsheets to work around its limitations.

He said that the upgrade has been in the works for the past three years, but only recently was made possible by some cost-cutting measures.

One of the advantages of the software is that it works well with Microsoft Office products. He added that the system seemed easy to learn. And Buffalo Grove can learn from the experience of neighboring communities using the system how best to use it.

Anderson said the village intends to use the new software for utility billing, so customers can access their records and pay online. Once the village converts to the software and is sure it is working properly, which could take a year to 18 months, the community will be saturated with information about online service.

Village President Jeffrey Braiman said it has been frustrating for people not to be able to pay online, primarily because of the limitations of the existing software.

“Now it’s good to see that coming to fruition,” he said.