Davis County information systems director outlines flat 2026 budget, software reclassifications and a staffing plan after longtime admin announces retirement

Davis County Information Systems Director Jeff told the Budget Committee on an information systems briefing that the department’s proposed 2026 budget is slightly below this year’s actuals after organizational changes and reclassifications.

Jeff said the department’s 2025 starting baseline was approximately $9.6 million, reduced to about $9.3 million following a January reorganization; projected spending for 2026 is about $9.2 million. “We were lucky that the byproduct of that was actually to to cut some budget money, about $300,000 a year from our payroll,” Jeff said, adding that the personnel change’s intent was to align skills with responsibilities rather than to reduce headcount.

Why it matters: the briefing combined technical budget reclassifications with near-term cost pressures that will affect next year’s operating budget. Committee members asked clarifying questions about licensing, benefits, and implementation timing.

Jeff emphasized that a large part of the apparent increase in some budget categories reflects reclassification of software expenses rather than new purchases. “Please do not think that we have just bought over a million and a half dollars of software. We have just reclassified,” he said, describing how software formerly budgeted across several object codes was consolidated into a subscriptions category.

Nevertheless, Jeff identified several real cost increases the county will absorb in 2026. Those include roughly $30,000 a year in telecommunications for a standalone Emergency Operations Center (EOC) connection that cannot rely on the main county building’s lines; an anticipated net increase on the county’s Esri GIS platform from about $150,000 to $175,000 a year; and a planned move to a hosted cloud version of the county’s Munis financial system that Jeff said could raise that contract by about $140,000 a year.

Jeff also described commercial licensing trends that can rapidly change costs. He gave an example of a single laptop running a per-machine license that currently costs $6,000 a year; if the vendor converts that license to a per-user model the county would see that specific cost increase to $30,000. He told the committee the county needs more aggressive contract negotiation and smarter licensing strategies to limit such spikes.

Cybersecurity remained a recurring concern. Jeff referenced a recent county peer incident and said his team and vendor partners (including SentinelOne) reviewed configurations and protections. “When a cyber event happens, what position gets asked,” he said, noting that cybersecurity “still gonna keep me up at night.”

On capital and replacement spending, Jeff said the county is in a high replacement cycle for end-user devices after the pandemic-era procurement spike. He said the department plans to draw down some fund balance to smooth replacement peaks; last year’s IS fund balance was about $1.4 million, with $800,000 returned to departments, leaving roughly $600,000. Jeff estimated he would spend about $200,000 of that fund balance to meet upcoming replacement and network upgrade needs.

Operational efficiency measures discussed included reducing the number of assigned printers and moving toward a “one device per person” model to lower maintenance and replacement costs. Jeff said the managed-print-services report showed dozens of printers that printed fewer than 50 pages in a quarter and argued many are not cost-justified.

Major ongoing projects Jeff listed include development work on platforms named Cortex and Puma, a new recorder platform planned to go live in about two weeks that will use AI to parse documents, and completion of network and site builds at Western Sports Park and the EOC (the park runs about 16–17 miles of cable). Jeff said the recorder project aims to replace an outside-market cost and “hopefully saving his office hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

On device platforms, Jeff said the county maintains a mixed Google/Microsoft environment. He noted roughly 300 Microsoft licenses remain in use countywide because some applications (for example, pretrial case management) require Microsoft integration; Microsoft’s perpetual, machine-based licenses still make it cheaper than a full Office 365 subscription in some cases, but that could change and the team is monitoring vendor quotes.

Jeff proposed a staffing change prompted by the upcoming retirement of confidential secretary Cindy Stoekel in mid-December. He said the department will not refill that full-time FTE; instead, two unused intern positions would be converted to two part-time administrative roles (scheduled at 20 hours per week) and Krista (current office administrator) would become an office manager overseeing the part-time staff. Jeff projected the departmental budget would show an $85,000 reduction, but because of repurposed/unfilled positions actual out‑of‑pocket savings would be about $49,000 per year.

Committee member Chris (staff) confirmed part-time scheduling limits tied to benefits and the Utah Retirement System (URS) rules and noted the plan would keep part-time hires under thresholds (generally 20 hours weekly schedule) to avoid mandatory retirement contributions. Jeff said he plans to post the part-time positions in November to allow training overlap before Stoekel leaves.

The committee discussed central cashiering and payment consolidation as an efficiency measure, with Jeff estimating about half of county cashiering could be centralized but noting some systems (for example, health department platforms and certain park or facility card-scanners) cannot be consolidated.

No formal budget change vote was required at the meeting. Jeff initially mentioned he had “one actual voting item for the budget committee,” but the group concluded the staffing adjustment does not require a budget opening or committee vote because it does not increase spending; the commission’s permission would not be required for the described change.

The briefing closed after committee discussion and scheduling notes for hiring and training ahead of Stoekel’s retirement.