When Tyler Technologies acquired Maine-based Munis in 1999, people in the community worried it was the beginning of the end for the Texas company’s Maine presence.

But nearly 20 years later, Tyler has doubled down on its long-term commitment to Maine by completing a 94,425-square-foot expansion to its Yarmouth facility with plans to add nearly 600 jobs in the state by 2025.

The Plano, Texas-based company celebrated the grand opening of its Yarmouth expansion Wednesday with a ceremony attended by local and state officials. The expanded facility adds a variety of amenities and can accommodate up to 750 workers, company officials said.

“It’s on time, it’s on budget, and it’s beyond any expectations that we had,” said Tyler CEO John Marr Jr., who lives and works in Maine. The $28 million expansion took about 18 months to build, he said.

Like Munis before it, Tyler develops software products used by schools, courts, police departments and various other branches of local government. The products still carry the Munis brand.

Tyler serves more than 15,000 local government offices by providing software and services for cities, counties, schools and other government entities, according to the company. It has clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and other countries.

The Yarmouth expansion features a variety of rooms, from single-person “phone booths” for private calls to a 175-seat theater-style auditorium for meetings and seminars. The facility includes an expanded cafeteria, a 3,600-square-foot fitness center, a large training and development lab, over 30 collaboration areas and other features.

Those amenities will help the technology firm vie for talent in a tight job market, company officials said.

“We have to compete to get them here, and we have to compete to keep them,” said Robert Sansone, Tyler’s chief human resources officer.

Marr said that despite the hiring challenges in Maine, it was an easy decision to build the Yarmouth expansion.

“This division of Tyler has been in the community a real long time,” he said. “We have a tremendous commitment to this environment.”

Tyler has about 375 workers at the Yarmouth facility, and another 200 at a nearby location in Falmouth, along with about 120 in Bangor, Marr said. The plan is to hire at least 50 more this year, and about 575 more in Maine by 2025, he said.

“The hiring hasn’t necessarily changed because we built a new building,” Marr said, but the expansion will allow the company to continue growing into the future.

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation sent representatives to the event and also commented on the expansion in written statements. Among them, Sen. Susan Collins commended Tyler for building the facility.

“The new space will not only provide more than 500 additional jobs, but will have a lasting, positive impact on the region’s economy,” Collins said in her statement to Tyler officials. “The continued growth of your business and the commitment you have shown to our state are also truly inspirational.”

Sen. Angus King also lauded the company for taking a major step toward significant growth in Maine.

“With this expansion, Tyler will be able to create even more jobs for the region,” King said in his statement. “Thank you for your continued commitment to the Yarmouth community and the state of Maine, and I look forward to watching Tyler Technologies continue to grow.”

Tyler is a public company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TYL. The company increased its revenue by over 50 percent from 2014 to 2016, going from $493.1 million to $756 million. In 2017, Fortune magazine ranked Tyler No. 82 on its list of the 100 fastest-growing companies.

The company’s Maine roots go back to 1962, when John Marr Sr. founded Process Inc., which later became The Computer Center and then was renamed Munis in the 1980s. The company had about 100 employees in Maine when it was purchased by Tyler in 1999.

Now it has about 700 workers in the state, with an annual payroll of about $75 million, which averages out to over $100,000 per worker.

“I’ve been so pleased to watch Tyler Technologies’ incredible growth in recent years,” Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a written statement. “More important than even the rising number of Maine people the company employs is the quality of those jobs.”

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

canderson@pressherald.com

Twitter: jcraiganderson

This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 1 to correct the cost of the expansion.