Manatron

While Nunez-Tesheira gave no details about the cost of Manatron’s services to the Government or the duration of their engagement in Trinidad and Tobago, a check by Business Day showed that the company has over 40 years of experience in tax payment systems. The company manages approximately 40 million parcels per day and collects over US $65 billion in revenues annually.

Based in Michigan, USA, Manatron was originally founded in 1969 and was incorporated in 1972. Manatron initially provided in-house data processing services for local governmental units in Michigan. Subsequently, Manatron expanded its business into Indiana in 1972, into Illinois in 1975, and into Missouri in 1981. In 1982, the company’s business was extended further to include advanced microcomputer-based systems for governments. These turnkey data processing systems used both general-purpose computer hardware produced by leading manufacturers and proprietary software developed or purchased by Manatron.

Since 1990, Manatron acquired several application software companies to expand its product line for supporting county and city government processing. These applications include real property appraisal, tax billing, collection and distribution, as well as vehicle registration, fund accounting, payroll, and utility billing. Today, 87 of 92 counties in Indiana and 70 of 88 counties in Ohio, use Manatron software products to administer their property assessment, property tax billing, child support accounting, and court accounting. Over two-thirds of the counties in Idaho and counties representing 25 percent of the population of Washington State use Manatron’s software for property assessment.

In November 1994, Manatron acquired the Ohio-based Real Estate Services Division from Moore Business Forms, Inc., known as Sabre, the second largest provider of mass appraisal services to local governments in the United States with a strong presence in Indiana and Ohio as well as Pennsylvania.

In June 1999, Manatron acquired ProVal Corporation (ProVal), whose installed client base of PC-based computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) and tax systems included 18 states and three Canadian provinces.

In March 2000, Manatron acquired selected assets and certain contracts from CPS Systems, Inc. This acquisition included a UNIX-based, COBOL Tax Manager application for Florida and Oklahoma. Manatron has developed a Windows-based, client server version of the feature rich Tax Manager billing and collection application which has been installed in a number of client sites.

Manatron has also focused its efforts on upgrading its large client base and consolidating the common software products into a single suite of products called Manatron GRM. This suite fully embraces the Internet and uses a next generation technology platform based on Microsoft NET.

During 2003/2004, the company further restructured and divested itself of non-core business operations to provide improved focus on its ambitious goals in property and taxation oriented products and services.

On October 30, 2003, Manatron announced its first contract for its integrated solution GRM with Gwinnett County, Georgia. This ongoing project will allow Manatron to seamlessly integrate the property tax, appraisal and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) systems in Gwinnett County, and also provide access to the entire system via the Internet, ultimately allowing the county to better service the community.

In June 2004, the company completed the sale of its judicial product line, and related business, to Maximus. This was a move made in order to allow the entire company to focus its investments and energy on its core property tax and appraisal business. In November of 2004, Manatron acquired VisiCraft Systems, the market leader in Georgia for its VCS Tax software solution. This acquisition allowed Manatron to gain significant market recognition in Georgia and the company continues its aggressive push in the state.

On November 3, 2005, Manatron announced that it had acquired Plexis Group, an Indiana based company with long standing relationships with 20 Indiana counties, including CAMA software clients. Plexis also provided property tax and GIS software and related services to its client base. This acquisition added significant additional local presence, subject matter expertise and leadership for Manatron in the Indiana market.

In February 2006, Manatron made the most significant acquisition in the company’s history when it purchased ASIX, Inc. Founded in 1991, ASIX designed, developed and marketed Ascend™, a comprehensive client/server-based assessment administration and property tax billing and collection system installed in 16 counties in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri and Illinois. ASIX also provided professional services including installation, training, project management and data conversion in connection with sales of its property tax software. ASIX brought approximately 40 employees and subcontractors into the deal to join Manatron. ASIX’s strong presence in the West has allowed Manatron to expand its national scope. More importantly, their experienced technical and sales staff that joined Manatron during this process solidifies Manatron’s position as the undisputed leaderin the national property tax market. In August 2007, Manatron acquired New York-based CAMA software provider Sigma Systems Technology. Sigma was originally founded in 1983 and provided CAMA software and data management tools for real and personal property valuation in more than 25 government jurisdictions in the United States, Canada, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and South Africa.

During the same period, Manatron additionally acquired a majority of the assets of Austin, Texas-based Hart Intercivic, Inc’s Records Management Solutions business.

This acquisition rounded out Manatron’s GRM offering with the addition of a NET suite of records management applications which provides document management and workflow automation tailored for the County Recorder’s office. Manatron’s Records Management solution supports well over 100 municipalities in 13 states, including King County, Washington (Seattle); Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Charlotte); and Wayne County, Michigan (Detroit).

In March 2008, Manatron was acquired by Thoma Cressey Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for more than 27 years. The company said this move will help to further solidify its standing as the foremost leader in the property tax market through aggressive investment in Manatron’s GRM suite of software and strategic acquisitions.

In July 2008, Manatron acquired InfiniTec, a Kansas-based company which provides tax, financial and human resources software and services to over 80 counties in the state.

On December 9, 2009, Manatron announced that it had installed its GRM Tax solution in 21 counties as part of its contract with the MCCC (Minnesota Counties Computer Cooperative) consortium in Minnesota.

In January, Manatron acquired Florida-based Software Techniques Inc, which was regarded as a leader in CAMA software development Software Techniques CustomCAMA product manages over five million parcels in the US. Manatron said the solutions of this firm is currently being integrated into its GRM product line with the objective to Manatron as the clear choice for jurisdictions evaluating assessment, tax billing and tax collection software products.

Today, Manatron currently serves 1,400 clients in 42 states in the US, Canada, the US Virgin Islands and Cape Town, South Africa.

Manatron’s executive leadership team is headed by company president and CEO, G. William McKinzie who joined the company in 2002. Other members of the Manatron’s leadership team are Early L. Stephens (executive vice president,corporate strategy), Mary Gephart (vice president, human resources and administration) and Marty A Ulanski (executive vice president, GRM operations).

The Property Tax Bill was passed in the House of Representatives on December 21, 2009. The bill was passed in the Senate on December 30,2009 and was assented by President George Maxwell Richards one day later. Citizens are expected to receive their first property tax bills in the mail on March 31.