County staff present $64M TEBS operating budget plan; committee flags VPN and additional Copilot licenses for reconciliation

The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee reviewed the Technology and Enterprise Business Solutions (TEBS) FY26 operating budget and enhancements, including countywide artificial intelligence projects, a website redevelopment (Web 2) ongoing cost item, a proposed VPN replacement and cloud hosting, and several contract increases.

Dr. Torregas, County Council staff, told the committee that the executive submitted a $72,000,000 TEBS request but that about $8,500,000 of that request is a public-safety component being handled by the joint GEO and Public Safety committees; the committee therefore focused on approximately $64,000,000 in non–public-safety TEBS spending.

Gail Roper, director of TEBS, described the county's AI approach as one “centered on service delivery” and emphasized a risk‑aware rollout. Roper said TEBS has created an AI Center of Excellence to work with department heads, review operational needs and process bottlenecks, and develop an "AI portfolio" of initiatives intended to improve county service delivery while protecting resident data. Shaina Taki, TEBS change‑management lead, added that TEBS has benchmarked with other jurisdictions, produced AI guidelines and action plans, and begun focused product analyses and trainings.

One major AI example is Monty, the county’s MC311…