Local governments in the Washington area have joined their state and federal counterparts in trying to ensure that computer systems operate properly on Jan. 1, 2000. In many cases, entire computer systems are being replaced, resulting in networks that not only are Y2K compliant but also have much greater capacity. Below is a summary of the effort in certain key areas, according to local and regional officials.

F I N A N C I A L   &   T A X   S E R V I C E S D I S T R I C T Computers handling city budgeting and bill payment, personnel and payroll, and tax collection need repairs. Work is nearly complete on the personnel/payroll and financial management systems. An integrated tax system alone is expected to cost $99 million.

V I R G I N I A Arlington: Computers handling all aspects of county finances, real estate and personal property assessment, and tax collection need repairs, for an estimated $2.8 million. Work is to be completed by September 1999. Alexandria: The real estate tax collection and financial systems are already compliant; repairs to the payroll/personnel system, costing $50,000, are slated to be finished by next spring. Fairfax: The county replaced the budgeting, financial and purchasing systems in 1997 with Y2K-complaint software. It still must spend about $700,000 to fix the real estate, personal property and business tax systems by August 1999. Loudoun: The county is installing an upgraded, compliant finance system by October. Tax systems are being modified to eliminate Y2K bugs by September 1999. Costs are estimated at $1 million. Prince William: County accounting systems are slated for repair by October. A new real-estate tax assessment system is in place. Work is continuing on business tax systems. Total costs are estimated at $4 million. M A R Y L A N D Howard: Fixes to the payroll and property tax system are underway but will be covered by maintenance contracts. Upgrades to the water and sewer billing and financial systems are complete. Montgomery: Nine computer systems – including tax assessment, collection and county accounting – need repairs. Work is underway at an estimated cost of $1.5 million, with completion targeted for May. Prince George's: Repairs on the primary county finance and personnel computer systems began in May and should be finished by June, at a cost of $500,000. Repairs to the tax system are 90 percent complete, with remaining pieces repaired by April, at a cost of $250,000.