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Bonner County IT director proposes reclassifying training, supply and postage lines in technology budget
Summary
The county’s director of technology asked commissioners to reclassify several IT budget lines — including training, memberships, office and network supplies and postage — to better match how the department spends and to support staff certifications and hardware returns.
The Bonner County director of technology asked the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday to reclassify multiple information-technology budget lines and to add detail to Munis so future reviewers can find spending justifications.
The request covered the department’s education and training fund, dues and memberships, office supplies, network supplies and postage. The director said the education line (listed as $64.90 in the submitted worksheet) is used for certifications such as CompTIA and firewall training and for conferences. “I would like to see if I can start taking one or two of the team to the MS‑ISAC or the Idaho Association of Counties Conference,” the director told commissioners, noting that some conferences — specifically an Idaho Office of Emergency Management event — are fully reimbursed; the director cited a reimbursement of $1,588.48 last year but said rental‑car insurance there was not reimbursed.
The director asked that dues, memberships and licenses be reduced and that funds be moved to postage to cover occasional heavy returns of server equipment, saying a single return by FedEx exceeded the current $300 postage line. Commissioners pressed for evidence of recurring need and ultimately agreed to keep postage at $300 for now rather than double it.
Commissioners also directed a clearer separation between general office supplies (pens, paper, printer costs) and IT‑related hardware and networking consumables. The director said most networking cabling and small hardware purchases already come from the capital computer fund (account referenced during the meeting as 9430); commissioners asked the director to reduce the general office supply line from $2,000 to $500 and to move planned network supply dollars into the capital/hardware fund.
On mobile services, the director said the department uses a mix of Verizon and FirstNet and that the current total cellular expenditure is about $3,342 to date; commissioners asked for a per‑line monthly breakout so the line can be budgeted accurately for the coming year.
Commissioners asked that detailed backup spreadsheets and receipts be attached in Munis so that future reviewers can reconcile line‑item changes even if the emailed spreadsheet cannot be found. The director agreed to attach the supporting files and to add estimated costs in the Munis description fields for the larger items.
The board deferred any executive session on software subscriptions until all commissioners have had a chance to review the itemized software list the director provided.
