County debates managed IT contract and budgets for software, hardware and maintenance
Summary
Commissioners and county IT staff reviewed IT line items, an RFP for managed services, and proposed software and hardware budgets that staff say reflect both recurring and one-time transition costs.
County IT and budget staff described proposed FY2026 IT funding that would cover software, hardware, bridge/patch fixes and maintenance as the county transitions parts of its environment and issues an RFP for managed IT services.
Mr. Wood and other staff presented line-item figures that include $155,000 for software, $100,000 for hardware, $75,000 for bridge/patch fixes and $200,000 for ongoing maintenance. Staff said the county's consolidated IT bill — which bills Microsoft 365 accounts, Azure services, cloud security, VPNs and other recurring items — has cost "about $160 a year" in the auditor's accounting shorthand during the transition, and that current recurring bills will continue until systems are migrated.
Staff said some previous one-time charges (data-center storage increases, rack additions, and single-instance server blade replacements) were charged to maintenance this year, and those one-time items will not necessarily recur next year. Commissioners cautioned that managed-IT contracts should demonstrate clear value and clarified that a managed contract will not remove the need for a county-level ticket approver or decision-maker for purchases and approvals.
The court asked staff to continue the RFP process and return with responses that include fixed-fee and managed options, and to re-present modeled costs showing recurring maintenance versus one-time transition expenditures.
Ending: Staff will continue to accept RFP responses, refine the IT expense breakdown and present a clearer recurring-vs-one-time cost comparison at a future meeting.
