Technology Services presents $96.5 million 2026 budget, cites contract renegotiations and personnel reductions

At a Sept. 25 Denver City Council budget hearing, Suman Lalapati, chief information officer for the City and County of Denver, outlined Technology Services’ recommended 2026 spending plan and the agency’s approach to reducing costs without cutting essential cybersecurity or core operations.

Lalapati told the council that Technology Services’ proposed general-fund budget for 2026 is about $96,500,000, with roughly $3.3 million in special-revenue funds and $1.5 million in capital transfers. She said personnel and services-and-supplies are roughly balanced in the request, with about 48.3% of expenditures for personnel and about 48.1% for services and supplies.

The department described several steps intended to reduce costs and preserve essential services: renegotiating vendor contracts, consolidating redundant tools and teams across agencies, establishing a prioritization framework that directs limited resources to projects with approved funding and clear execution plans,…