Roberts has new computer system almost ready

By Scott Wright

CENTRE — After nearly a decade of unsuccessful attempts to modernize his office, Revenue Commissioner John A. Roberts was able to begin the process of computerizing county property records in 2006. Sometime this summer, Roberts said he expects his office to have the process of “finally bringing the office into the 21st century” completed.

“Our aerial photography was done in January to March of 2006,” Chief Cartographer Jeff Adcock said of the first step in the process. “That took about a year to complete.”

Adcock said all the county's existing paper maps were then scanned into the computer system, which allows them to be overlaid onto the digital images for more accuracy.

“That allowed us to get used to the new software before we got the new base maps in place,” Adcock said. “We began doing that in early 2007.”

By June, Adcock hopes to have the system fully functional.

“We're close to being finished, “he said. “And this is something we had been trying to do for seven years before we finally got started in 2006. Before then, there were blocks and delays that kept us from being able to institute this system. As a result, we were the last county in the state of Alabama to get this computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) system.”

Adcock said the local politics that kept the county behind the times for almost a decade paid off for Roberts -- and everyone who owns property in Cherokee County -- in the long run.

“Actually, it was a good thing because Johnny just kept rolling money from one budget to the next for all those years, and he was able to save up enough money that we were able to pay for this entire project as we went along.”

Adcock said the entire system, including aerial photography of the county and the three mapping stations already up and running in the revenue commissioner's office, cost around $500,000.

“The total, as far as buying all the equipment for the office, was more than that but the computer system was around half a million,” he said. “We're constantly updating the equipment, too, because we want to stay ahead of the technology. And it's all been paid for -- we didn't have to borrow any money to do it.”

Adcock explained that the new computer system allows for much more accurate plotting of property lines and can be connected to other government entities in the county, such as E-911. The information will also be used by local fire departments, the Cherokee County Highway Department and the Board of Registrars, which is in charge of local elections.

“We're drawing maps for the County Commission, re-defining voting districts and precincts for the Registrars, and we're all working together to make this thing go,” he said. “We've got information on every culvert and bridge in the county that the highway department can access, along with the placement of every sign on every road in the county.”

Adcock said the county will be able to provide enough money for the E-911 office and the highway department to eventually install their own work stations, as well.

“We've moved from mule and wagon to the space shuttle over the past three years,” Adcock said. “We've got a top-of-the-line system.”

Another plus of finally moving to digital records, Adock said, is that all the information on over 30,000 individual pieces of property in Cherokee County is now easily accessible to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection.

“After we get everything finished, we'll be doing a monthly dump of new information into the website, and that's available to the public right now by going to www.alabamagis.com and clicking on the Cherokee County link,” he said.

Roberts said the new system will also aid the county as it deals with a reinvigorated Federal Emergency Management Agency determined to enforce decades-old flood insurance requirements.

“Our new CAMA system was used in this tax year for the first time to do all our property value calculations, and all our reappraisals,” Roberts added. “Before that, we had to calculate all our reappraisals by hand. We, and the entire county government, really, are all going to benefit greatly from having this system in place. And we're going to make it available to everybody.”

Roberts, who was appointed to revenue commissioner in 1994 after his predecessor retired, was elected in 1996 and re-elected in 2002. He'll be seeking a chance at his third full term against two opponents in the Democratic primary on June 3.