She says its computer system is out of the past.
Md Comptroller Brooke Lierman
Frederick, Md (KM) On of the biggest challenges facing the Maryland Comptroller’s Office has to do with high tech. Comptroller Brooke Lierman says there’s a lack of modern technology in the agency, and one of her key initiatives is to modernize the Comptroller’s Office. “Our tax processing system, our general state accounting system, these are really legacy systems based on a main frame that uses the software programming language COBOL,” she said. “Even our website is a static website that doesn’t provide nearly the resources in a user-friendly way that I’d like to.”
Lierman says bringing in this new technology will help the state save money, and make easier for Marylanders to file their taxes, and get the information they need. “We have to be thinking about how we make it easier to pay and file taxes over the long run; how we can make sure that we can create systems that are more user friendly so that people don’t to call in. So they can find the self help that they need,” the Comptroller says.
She says she is committed to bringing a modern computer system to the Comptroller’s Office. “But it takes time,” says Lierman. “This is not like going to a store and buying a Microsoft Office off the shelf and installing it. . These are really, really complicated IT systems. that have to also withstand a barrage of cyber attacks. So we have to make sure they’re secure.”
She continues. “Louis Goldstein used to brag that he took the office of Comptroller from pencil and paper to the main frame. And now my goal is to take us from the main frame to the cloud.”
Louis Goldstein served as Maryland’s Comptroller from 1959 until he died in 1998.
Lierman was in Frederick on Tuesday to meet with the staff at the Comptroller’s local field office. She also met with the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, and toured STULZ Air Technology Systems, Inc., McClintock Brewing. Comptroller Lierman also spoke with County Council members during their weekly meeting.
By Kevin McManus