The Village of Cross Plains Finance Advisory and Enhancement Committee on Jan. 6 discussed whether to replace an aging on‑premises server or move its accounting software to a cloud‑based service.

Staff said the current server was installed around 2018 and that an IT contractor recommended budgeting $10,000–$15,000 to replace it. The cloud option would add an annual operating cost on top of existing software fees; one member noted an example annual increase that would be roughly $3,600 and stressed the added expense would count against levy limits.

Committee members focused on three practical tradeoffs: security and backups, recurring cost versus capital outlay, and operational impacts such as remote access and automatic updates. Supporters of cloud services said automatic updates and vendor‑managed backups reduce the village’s maintenance burden and provide continuous patching. Others cautioned that moving sensitive municipal records offsite requires careful review of vendor security and backup reliability; the committee cited a recent audit that flagged weaknesses in the village’s current cloud backup program.

Staff said the current installation is dedicated to the accounting application and that other village servers may not be substantially newer or appropriate to host the software. The software vendor’s three‑user license was noted as sufficient for daily operations, and staff reported that some optional modules (cemetery, licenses, code enforcement) are available but not currently purchased.

Members asked staff to gather more information on: the village’s existing server inventory, comparable cloud offerings and their recurring costs, vendor security controls, and whether existing on‑site hardware could host the application temporarily. The chair said staff would check with the village IT contractor and return with a recommendation. The committee did not take formal action at the meeting.

The conversation concluded with agreement to collect comparative pricing and security details for presentation to the board before deciding whether to replace the server or move to a cloud subscription.