Republicans in the Iowa House may hire a company to use Artificial Intelligence to analyze spending in each Iowa county and in the 220 largest school districts in Iowa. As lawmakers and the governor consider plans to cap property taxes, House Speaker Pat Grassley says local officials could use the data to compare expenses with other counties or school districts and find ways to cut costs.
The company has offered House Republicans a contract with an upfront payment of up to 1.5 MILLION dollars, with a nearly a million dollar payment due in each of the next two years. That money could be approved in one of the state budget bills the House and Senate will approve, and the governor will sign this spring, or Grassley says House Republicans could move forward on their own and use the House budget to cover the cost.
Governor Reynolds says she’s hired consultants for state government work and understands how the data being promised could be helpful, but she is asking state I-T experts who have experience reviewing proposals from similar companies to review Tyler Technology’s proposal.
A representative from Tyler Technologies testified Tuesday during a House Oversight Committee meeting. Representative Charley Thomson, a Republican from Charles City who’s the committee’s chairman, says the company would provide the first sophisticated method of looking at what’s being spent by local government.
Mark Welch, a senior account executive with the company, told legislators the company will identify which local governments in Iowa are running efficiently and which aren’t.
Tyler Technologies is based in Texas and provides payroll and payment software as well as cybersecurity services to government agencies around the country. The company’s website indicates it has contracts with dozens of state and local agencies here that date back to 2020.
