By Sarah Richardson
At the March meeting of the Lewisburg City Council, much of the meeting was discussion on whether or not to upgrade the City’s annual AccuFund contract, which is accounting software used for contracts, taxes, fees, purchases, and other city business such as water leak repair tracking and other items.
City Manger Misty Hill explained that the City’s current AccuFund contract doesn’t include the “anywhere” cloud-based software. Hill said if she works from home on her laptop, for example, when she comes back into the office she has to wait to “reconnect” to the service and update things in the program. AccuFund Anywhere, the cloud-based version of the service, means that users can connect and update information remotely.
“It is really critical that we have this capability,” said Hill. The service is currently $8,000 per year for their current AccuFund, but AccuFund Anywhere “will cost an additional $28,000” annually, said City Treasurer Susan Honaker. Honaker also said if there are electrical outages at City Hall, AccuFund isn’t accessible, but with the upgraded service contract, it could be. Councilmember John Little pointed out that this would be nearly a 400 percent increase. Hill stated that they “have the funds available in the city budget” for the upgrade. Greenbrier Technologies, as a separate endeavor, is upgrading the server at City Hall, and said that remote cloud capabilities would be required for the services they would like.
“This isn’t just for employees to work remotely, it’s for the capability of the police, public works, and city hall to intermingle and work together. When one is down, the others can work either,” she explained. “We work off of AccuFund all day long, it’s a crucial part of city government.” The City has used AccuFund since 2008.
After a lengthy discussion, it was motioned to approve the AccuFund Anywhere Online software at a cost of $36,000 for the year. “It does feel, not quite like bait-and-switch, but it does feel a little dishonest,” said Councilmember Little on the price difference of $8,000 annually to $36,000 annually, “It’s like, if you want to really even be able to use it, it’s $28,000 extra. It’s 350 percent more to be able to use it the way it should be used.” The motion was approved unanimously, except for Councilmember Little voting nay.
Hill then detailed that a contract for Julie Green to act as Water Plant Operator was needed to run the plant when Public Works Director Tony Legg was going to be out. She explained that the contract was the same as used for the now-retired Chief Water Plant Operator, and it was approved unanimously.
In other news, councilmembers approved two pay requests for the Water Treatment Plant Improvement Project, as well as Resolution 579 titled “Police Department Lease Purchase six vehicles and equipment for vehicles.”
The General Fund Budget for fiscal year 2026, which had already been reviewed “at length and in depth” by the Finance Committee, was approved unanimously by council.
Brentz Thompson was appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals by Mayor White. “He has served before, and I would like for him to serve again,” she said. Thompson was approved unanimously.
