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Lorain finance subcommittee flags IT maintenance, licensing and capital costs ahead of budget vote
Summary
Officials were warned maintenance agreement and licensing costs are driving a large portion of the IT budget next year, with licenses for email security, backups and virtual-server software cited as the main drivers and planned capital purchases for hosts and PCs noted as near-term needs.
Lorain’s finance subcommittee on Monday examined next year’s IT budget, hearing that rising maintenance and licensing costs — particularly for email security, backups and virtualization software — are the largest drivers of the department’s proposed increase.The subcommittee’s chair opened the session by saying the committee would review the IT director’s line items and ask non-line-item questions first. The IT director told the panel two main cost categories dominate the request: maintenance agreements and contractual services, with maintenance agreements identified as the larger of the two.
“Between those two alone, those are almost $150,000,” the IT director said, referring to Barracuda email security and off-site backup costs and other maintenance contracts. He added that Adobe licensing is about $15,000 and that the city’s hosted financial, permitting and time-clock platform also carries a significant maintenance charge.
The director also warned of sharp price increases for virtualization software after a vendor change. “VMware used to be owned by Dell, and VMware was sold, and they have about tripled their prices,” he said, identifying a major driver of the maintenance increase.
Capital needs in the IT budget include replacing two server hosts and end-of-life Windows 10 desktop PCs. The director estimated the hosts at roughly $25,000 each and said equipment-supply and small-ticket capital accounts increased (equipment supplies rose from $480 in 2022 to $5,000 in the proposed budget) to cover replacements and peripheral devices.
Council members pressed the director on training and staffing costs. The IT director said the $10,000 in-service budget would pay for remote technical classes to keep staff current on new systems, not for licensing, and that the department tries to send multiple staff to shared sessions to control costs.
Staff and auditor representatives explained some IT costs are recovered through annual chargebacks to non-general-fund departments, which lowers the net general-fund impact in any single year. The IT director said he also holds capital outlay funds in reserve for unplanned breakdowns.
The subcommittee did not take a formal vote on the IT budget during the meeting; members said they will compare line items once the full budget is completed on the city’s target date and return with follow-up questions if needed.
