Remember that sinking feeling when you drive that shiny new car off the lot and hear the engine knocking and pinging? Folks at the Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD)are apparently feeling it, too. They've stopped paying bills from Tyler Technologies Inc., a Maine firm they're considering suing for selling them a $200,000 financial software system they say doesn't work. Administrators say that Tyler's MUNIS system must be restarted every five minutes to keep from crashing. While the health district attempts to resolve its conflict with Tyler-- which contends that SRHD simply hasn't done enough to configure and support the system--the district is looking at other vendor offerings. If it doesn't resolve its problems with MUNIS, the district may end up spending up to $440K of its reserves on yet another payroll system.

- To get more background on the SRHD dispute, read this article.