Does year 2000 put finances at risk?

• Author: Grabow, Dennis G.

Editor's note: The Forum reflects opinions of the author, not necessarily endorsed by the GFOA Executive Board, staff, or membership. The Forum is intended to promote dialogue among the readership.

On June 23, officials from an Illinois county learned, to their dismay, that the county was one and one-half years behind schedule in solving their Year 2000 problem. It was estimated that in the sheriff's department alone, reprogramming to prepare computers for the date change would require approximately 15,000 hours. For this community of 240,000 residents, the prospect of not meeting Year 2000 deadlines means disruptions in everyday operations such as traffic lights, water supply, county jail doors, and elevators.

Unfortunately, the county referenced above is more the rule than the exception. Consider New York. The manager of the 2000 project at New York's technology office said 712 computer programs used by state government could either fail or handle data inaccurately because of the Year 2000 problem. He also said that the total cost of fixing or replacing all 712 problems will be at least $250 million, and that only $100 million has been budgeted to solve the biggest problems.

Fixing Year 2000 flaws is estimated to cost Maryland, Virginia, and the area's municipal governments at least $370 million. This includes fixing computers handling city budgeting and bill payment; personnel and payroll; real-estate and income tax collection; business and land-use permits; driver's license and motor vehicle registration; pension payments; purchasing; student information; and police and fire communications, including dispatch services. Off-loading equipment at Baltimore's port needs to be assessed and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is still trying to diagnose the problem and come up with a cost estimate. There are also the 3,966 terminals that dispense Maryland lottery tickets or offer keno games, all of which contain software that will not function properly after December 31, 1999, without repairs.

On a national level, the chief scientist from the General Accounting Office said, "Our entire way of life, in essence, is at risk. We don't know the [Year 2000] status of the federal government with any real precision."

No Municipality is an Island

Across the country, state and local governments are finding that their internal Year 2000 problems may cause serious disruptions in their ability to deliver services. They also have to look outside their systems to understand how they electronically interact with other governmental agencies and where upstream or downstream dependencies can impact operations. Shared information creates dependency on data partners. Many state activities, such as law enforcement, welfare benefits, child support, and motor vehicle records, involve sharing data with private-sector organizations and local, state, and federal governments.

"The many interdependencies that exist among the levels of governments and within key economic sectors of our nation could cause a single failure to have wide-ranging repercussions," Joel C. Willemssen, a General Accounting Office computer expert, told Congress in June.

As noted in the June...