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.