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County moves toward centralizing IT purchasing; commissioners debate pulling data‑processing budgets into IT
Summary
County leaders reviewed a cross‑department inventory of data‑processing hardware, software and services and discussed whether to centralize those budgets under the IT department to avoid duplication and improve procurement oversight.
County Administrator Jeff Taylor and IT staff briefed commissioners Sept. 11 on about $1.0 million in data‑processing hardware, software and services currently budgeted across departments and recommended further centralization under the county IT budget.
Taylor said some departments had already been provided quotes and that the IT office had worked with offices (prosecutor, sheriff, treasurer and others) to identify hardware refresh needs. He urged caution about double‑budgeting but said moving expense lines into IT would improve visibility and make it easier to coordinate large purchases.
Several commissioners and staff raised implementation questions: which departments should retain small, routine IT lines (for example high‑volume or mission‑specific equipment), and how to protect elected officials’ ability to manage office‑specific needs. Taylor proposed moving recurring enterprise purchases into IT while allowing small, clearly identified department‑level budgets for mission‑critical items.
Copiers and leases: commissioners questioned county‑wide copying and leasing practices and described several vendor relationships and per‑copy maintenance charges. Taylor said centralized procurement had already produced savings in select pilot cases (for example, the auditor’s copier purchase) and said more work was required to standardize printers and reduce duplicate software subscriptions.
Next steps: staff agreed to map department‑level IT lines and identify items that should remain in departmental budgets versus those to centralize; departments were asked to coordinate proposed purchases with IT, and staff will return with a proposed policy and the specific transfers required for the 2026 budget process.
