As you know, there has been much publicity concerning the Year 2000 "bug" (Y2K).   In the "early" days of computers, information storage space was very limited.  In order to save space, programmers used only the last two digits of the year.  In most computers the year '1998' was stored as '98'.  When year 2000 arrives, computers which have not been upgraded  will see the year as '00'.  If your bank attempts to calculate the interest due to you based on the year '00', the computer may assume that the true year is 1900 and determine that you owe the bank interest for 100 years.  Assume that you call a friend at 11:50 p.m. on December 31, 1999, and talk until 12:05 a.m. on January 1, 2000.  Your bill might be calculated for a 100-year-long telephone call instead of 15 minutes.  These are only two examples of what might happen if computers are not modified to accommodate the year 2000.   Many of the anticipated problems have been exaggerated.  However, any computer that performs calculations involving dates must be modified.   To avoid similar problems, the Town of Big Stone Gap is currently involved in a Year 2000 compliance program.

The Town  performs all accounting, payroll, utility, tax, and billing functions utilizing an IBM AS/400,  Model 400, computer system.  The application software is provided by Bright and Associates, Inc., a municipal accounting software company located in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

In June 1998, we began to convert to Year 2000  compliant software.  The first step was to upgrade the AS/400 operating system to Version 3, Release 7.   The next step was to install Y2K compliant application software.  Both of these steps were completed by the end of June 1998.

The Town of Big Stone Gap was essentially Y2K compliant on July 1, 1998. However, we are currently in the process of testing and "debugging" the new software.  This process is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 1999.

No significant problems are expected. We  anticipate that The Town of Big Stone Gap will provide uninterrupted services to our citizens and to our customers into the twenty-first century.