The Douglas County Commission will consider approving a $1.39 million contract with a software company for the county government’s new finance system on Wednesday.

The contract with SunGard stipulates that the cost of the new financial software system and its installation will not exceed the $1.39 million. Commissioners directed a steering committee to engage in contract negotiations in early March.

The cash for a new system has been set aside for several years and will come out of the county’s equipment reserve fund.

The county’s current finance system was implemented in 1999, and a new one is expected to streamline the accessibility of financial data. If approved, installation would begin this summer and software would go live in March 2015.

The commission will also consider issuing a conditional use permit to the National Ecological Observatory Network for a 116-foot meteorological tower at a Kansas University field station at 2060 East 1600 Road. The tower would collect atmospheric, soil and water data.

The commission will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse.