Motor vehicles system failure just the latest in string of CO snafus

Colorado's new, $13.2 million motor vehicles computer system isn't looking so snazzy now that residents are finding their cars improperly impounded. Officials have shut down the system as they try to fix the bug, The Denver Post reports.

"When we start to hear from folks that their vehicles are being impounded, we look back at the records and say, 'Yikes,"' said Maren Rubino, operations director for the revenue department's titles and registration section.

It's not the first major snafu in a Colorado state computer system, but the problems with CSTARS (Colorado State Titling and Registration System) has prompted Gov. Bill Ritter to conduct a full-scale review of the state's computer upgrades procedures.

• Last year, the federal government said Colorado may have to repay as much as $11 million for welfare benefits that were distributed because of errors caused by the $200 million Colorado Benefits Management System.
• The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment is assessing whether it can salvage an unemployment benefits program, Genesis, which originally cost $44.8 million. The system was stopped in December 2005.
• Two other computing systems - a payroll program at the Department of Transportation and a voter-registration system for the secretary of state - have provided big-dollar woes to the state.