County IT presents staffing, server and software consolidation plan amid budget scrutiny
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Summary
County IT told the council the department supports about 200 software applications and a large hardware estate; officials proposed moving one CPA position to IT, hiring a CIO or virtual CIO, and reviewing subscriptions and server replacement versus cloud migration to reduce long-term costs.
Elkhart County IT told the County Council on Sept. 19 that current operations include roughly 200 software applications across departments, about 101 servers and SAN cores, 47 switch stacks and more than 400 printers and copiers. County Administrator Jeff Taylor and IT presenters said the proposed 2026 IT budget reflects staffing increases intended to provide minimal coverage across county departments and to back up assigned technicians.
"The staffing that's being proposed is enough staffing to provide the services that the departments need, not just want," an IT presenter said during the hearing. The presentation described staff assigned to specific buildings — 9-1-1, jail, prosecuting attorney’s office — plus "floaters" who support multiple county sites.
Officials asked the council to consider consolidating the county’s many software subscriptions and systems and to evaluate whether platforms such as ServiceNow might replace multiple single-purpose programs. Taylor and IT staff said they intend a multi-year approach that includes evaluating server replacement cycles and an incremental migration to cloud services where economically sensible. The presenters said some subscriptions are three-year purchases, which affects year-to-year budgeting.
Councilors questioned whether some costs now budgeted to the commissioners’ office should instead appear in the IT budget. Taylor noted a CPA-level position currently shown in both budgets would be requested under IT.
IT also proposed options for leadership: hiring a chief information officer in-house, or continuing to use outsourced/virtual CIO services (Mosier Consulting). Taylor said the county may hold off on any final hiring until it is comfortable with the plan and its cost implications.
No formal appropriation was approved at the hearing; councilors asked for more detailed, itemized proposals and cost-to-benefit information at the planned Friday work session.