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Cumberland County IT director outlines staffing, device counts and the budget impact of rising SaaS costs
Summary
Aaron Patrick, county IT director, told the finance committee the department supports roughly 450 computers and has seen maintenance costs rise as vendors shift to subscription (SaaS) models; cybersecurity monitoring is budgeted but end-user training awaits state grant guidance.
Aaron Patrick, the county's IT director, briefed the Cumberland County Finance Committee on Jan. 27 about the scope of IT services and near-term budget pressures.
Patrick said IT supports roughly 469 active county user accounts, about 125 outside-agency accounts that use county-hosted systems (for example, regional dispatch partners), and about 450 machines (291 laptops and 141 desktops). The department has five staff members and completed 3,294 help-desk tickets last year, he said.
A central budget issue Patrick identified is a move by vendors from upfront purchase models to subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS). "As each of our various vendors are shifting to this model, we're seeing our maintenance line increase," he said, noting that one larger maintenance line converted this year and produced a first-year spike in the maintenance budget. Staff later explained a multi-year Dell server payment (roughly $70,000–$75,000) was moved to a capital reserve to reduce tax impacts in the operating year.
Patrick said the IT budget includes cybersecurity software and monitoring but not specific funding for end-user cybersecurity training. He told members the state has established a cybersecurity grant program that the county intends to pursue once the state publishes rules and funding guidance.
Committee members asked about regional licensing (for example, Munis) and whether the county has explored shared licensing with municipalities. Patrick said the county collaborates with dispatch partners on CAD and records-management licensing and is open to partnerships, but broad license-sharing conversations with vendors like Munis have not yet occurred.
What happens next: IT staff will provide follow-up details on which maintenance lines converted to SaaS, the plan for the Dell server payment and any grant-application timelines for cybersecurity training.
