New system could make paying Johnson City utility bills whole lot easier

A new and more convenient way to pay utility bills is on the horizon for Johnson City residents, following a recent approval from the city commission. Over the next year, city staff will be working to implement the latest version of the billing software with the help of Avero Advisors, the Knoxville-based government technology consulting firm confirmed by commission vote on June 4. The upgrade, according to Johnson CIty Water and Sewer Services Director Jon Lane, is much needed. "We're still going to have the same company, but a much newer version of Windows-based platform that would be better for our customer service staff, but also has additional benefits for customers as well, in our service area," Lane said. Currently the city is using a 1980s-era Disk Operating System (DOS)-based software called Zortec, an early Local Government Corporation (LGC) product. This system, while it's served its purpose for decades, still requires various manual, back-end processes. It also lacks key integrations like a credit card system, a capability that presently only exists as a third-party add-on to the base software. The upgrade to LGC's newest software, NextGen, will be Windows-compatible, automate a lot of behind-the-scenes processes and bring an integrated credit card system, allowing the city to drop added costs of the third-party card processor. However, residents may be the ones to benefit most from the system upgrades. The new software will include a customer portal where residents can log in and see their usage, billing history and make online payments. "We do not have that now, so that is a huge benefit that this new system will offer," Lane said of the front-facing improvements. "There is no online platform to log in and actually have the ability to review your billing history and make payments, so that is a huge reason why we want to do this." City staff have said they aim to have the new system up and running as early as January 2027, at which point both the current and new software will be operating in parallel. Lane said he expects the new system to be fully implemented by summer 2027. "We don't want any customers to have any difficulty making their payments and going through that process, so there will be a couple of months of overlap to make sure, before we officially switch to the new software, that it's successful," Lane said. During this parallel stage, Lane said there should be no impact to customers. With the proposal award, the city will enter an agreement or contract with Avero Advisors for $191,250. This cost is entirely covered by the water and sewer department's enterprise capital fund. Out of nine proposals for the project, Lane said Avero Advisors was recommended because of its representatives' familiarity with the city's systems and, being located in Knoxville, their advisors' close proximity to Johnson City. "Knowing that our utility system serves almost 130,000 people and over 45,000 accounts, we wanted to have no question that it was successful in the implementation," Lane said. A task force composed of Lane and several other city staff across public works, finance, IT and water and sewer departments reviewed the proposals, hear presentations and scored finalists on a matrix of key values such as cost, methodology and experience. "Why the task force was unanimous in choosing Avero was just they had worked with Local Government Corporation before," Lane said. "They're just an hour and a half away, so they can easily be on site, talk through things as we work through the implementation of it." The city will have access to the consultant's support services for the next year as they transition to the new utility billing system.