Adams County to centralize hardware purchases in new fund to track departmental IT spending and cybersecurity costs

Adams County auditors and staff described a plan to centralize computer hardware purchases into a new fund so departmental IT spending can be tracked and so the county can account for cybersecurity-related costs. Commissioners heard that the change will remove capital hardware purchases from the central IT budget and place them into a fund (referred to as fund 4016) with line items or tracking for each department and participating city or town.

Auditor Tony explained the mechanics: "There is a fund that we basically will remove the computer hardware purchases from the IT budget and put it into this fund, and we will list every department including cities and towns under that," he said. The approach will let the auditor's office and IT staff track expenditures for each department while IT retains ordering control so hardware is compatible with the county’s network.

Staff said IT Director Mike will continue to place orders because he knows what equipment integrates with the county network, and departments will request needed items from him. Tony added that the fund could be titled to reflect cybersecurity needs to comply with any reporting expectations tied to cybersecurity purchases.

Commissioners discussed practical aspects: whether the fund should show line items in each departmental budget or be a centralized fund that lists departmental charges. The plan presented keeps ordering centralized with visibility for departments and the council.

Outcome: Direction given to develop the centralized fund structure and track departmental IT hardware purchases in fund 4016; implementation steps to be coordinated by IT and the auditor.