MARSHALL — The Marshall City Council was divided this week on whether to purchase new budgeting software for the city. In discussion of the proposal, council member James Lozinski questioned whether it was a good idea to go ahead with a purchase that wasn’t included in the 2023 budget.

The proposal for a five-year agreement for Questica budget software passed on a narrow margin, 4-3.

E.J Moberg, director of administrative services for the city of Marshall, said Tuesday that having Marshall’s operating, capital and personnel budgets on the same computer software would have benefits for city planning.

“We see advantages of this from the idea of being able to potentially do multi-year budgeting, so we can project two to three years out,” he said.

“Finance staff have explored governmental budgeting software to hopefully improve our budgeting process. We’d like to ideally house our operating, capital and personnel budgets under the same software product,” Moberg said. Currently, the city is using separate accounting software for its operating and capital budgets, and personnel budget data is manually entered into the software, he said.

Moberg said the city received proposals from two companies, and recommended a proposal from Questica for a five-year agreement. The proposal’s cost for the first year would be $24,625, Moberg said. He proposed that the first year cost be funded by municipal liquor store profits, with the costs for the next four years being built into the city’s annual operating budget.

“The other company we got a proposal from was a shorter period up front, for three years,” Moberg said. “The costs were a little bit higher, and their annual increases were a little bit higher as well.”

Council member Lozinski asked whether the city could wait until next year, and budget for the new software.

“At what point are we out of liquor store profits, because we keep dipping into it?” he said.

Moberg said implementing the Questica budget software would take about 14 weeks, so if it was approved now, it could be in place in time for the city’s next budget planning cycle.

“This is really the last chance to do it for 2024,” Moberg said. He thought it was worth seeing if the council was interested in pursuing the agreement this year.

Council member Craig Schafer said Lozinski raised a good point about cost savings. However, he said, “I think probably if there’s anyplace to add something into the budget when we’re into a tight budget, tracking our budget is probably the smartest place to do it.”

“Hopefully it’ll give us better answers as we get on the road, and make better choices,” Schafer said.

Lozinski said he didn’t have an issue with the budget software, but he wasn’t going to support going outside the 2023 budget to purchase it.

“If you build it into the budget for 2024, I think it would be a good thing to do, but it’s not in the budget this year,” Lozinski said.

A motion to approve the budget software proposal from Questica passed 4-3, with council members Lozinski, Steven Meister and Amanda Schroeder voting against.