County Department of County Assets outlines internal service rates and five‑year capital improvement plan

Department of County Assets (DCA) leaders on Wednesday briefed commissioners on the department’s internal service rate (ISR) methodology, the FY25 budget for DCA functions, and the county’s five‑year capital improvement plan (CIP).

DCA Director Tracy Massey said the department’s FY25 operating and non‑operational budget totals roughly $221 million and that about $172–179 million of that is recovered from other county departments through internal service rates. The presentation aimed to show how DCA allocates costs for information technology, facilities and property management, fleet and motor pool, distribution and mail, and records and archives.

Why it matters: Internal service rates are billed to program budgets across the county and therefore influence department budget planning and the cost of delivering county services. Capital improvements funded through the CIP affect building safety, accessibility and long‑term maintenance costs.

Key points from the briefing: - High‑level budget and recovery: DCA’s FY25 budget was presented as roughly $221 million (including non‑operational costs). The recoverable internal service amount that is allocated to operating departments was shown as approximately $172 million (not including contracted security passthrough) and about $179 million including security passthroughs. - IT: Deputy CIO Sim Ogle said IT’s FY25 budget was about $97.2 million with 189 FTEs. IT rates are driven by counts of assets (servers, storage, laptops), staff support hours, software licenses and enterprise services. Asset replacement collections are calculated by dividing total replacement cost by asset service life and collected monthly. - Facilities and property management: Division director Dan Zalco said FPM’s FY25 budget was about $86 million (excluding large capital bond projects) with 139 employees managing about 90 owned buildings and roughly 80 leases. FPM allocates operations and maintenance costs using square footage and building type (clinics, detention, offices, warehouses). Pass‑through charges (leases, utilities, enhanced service districts) are billed to building occupants. - Fleet, motor pool and distribution: Fleet manages about 800 vehicles; rates are based on vehicle counts and categories (base vs actual cost). Motor pool charges use a three‑year average of usage. Distribution is billed by mail stops and special deliveries. - Records and archives: Records costs are driven by records actions, items accessioned and boxes stored; digital records costs are allocated by new records entered into the electronic records management system. - Capital improvement plan: DCA described a five‑year CIP with nearly 300 projects across 53 buildings. Departments contribute to CIP funds (presented as around $8 per square foot and approximately $22 million total for the program year). The CIP prioritizes major building systems (roofs, HVAC, fire, plumbing) and accessibility work; projects over $250,000 require board approval under administrative procedure FIN‑15.

Board response and follow up: Commissioners asked for deeper briefings on specific capital needs and project prioritization, and about how underused office space and telework patterns affect long‑term facility planning. Several commissioners said they want scheduled follow‑up briefings on capital priorities and utilization. Massey and staff said they will provide additional materials, and flagged a March briefing on the county’s capital plan.

Ending: County staff characterized the ISR system as aligned with industry practices, noted timing constraints in budget cycles for making rapid rate changes, and said they will return with more detailed CIP materials and department‑level impacts as the FY‑26 budget cycle proceeds.