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Aurora IT proposes cybersecurity, backups and staffing adjustments in 2026 budget
Summary
The city’s IT director presented a 2026 budget proposal that trims roughly $3.2 million through contract and software cleanup, proposes hires for cybersecurity and a backup solution, and plans to centralize IT services; aldermen pressed the department on licensing, P25 radio costs and increased overtime projections.
Ram Tiaghi (presenter on the record) told the finance committee the information technology department’s proposed 2026 budget reflects a mix of cost reductions and targeted investments.
Tiaghi said department priorities for 2026 include expanding cloud usage, piloting AI tools for efficiency, strengthening cybersecurity and improving community engagement and data access. He told the committee the department identified approximately $3.2 million in potential savings from contract and software cleanup and that the proposed IT budget target for 2026 is about $15.1 million.
Planned decision packages highlighted by Tiaghi include: a managed security service provider (MSSP) to provide 24/7 monitoring (budgeted at approximately $500,000 pending council approval), an immutable backup solution (initial allocation reduced to $100,000 for 2026 with a multiyear plan), a Matterport subscription for GIS image hosting, a security-analyst position to build in-house controls, and upgrading an IT business analyst to a project manager role.
Tiaghi said six positions are being reduced across IT through non‑replacements and selected decrements (including a data analyst role, a network-engineer opening and two PMO positions); he emphasized those reductions reflected reorganizing and centralizing previously department-specific IT functions rather than wholesale service cuts.
Aldermen pressed staff on software-license management and whether reduced headcount would yield license savings; Tiaghi said the department reconciles license costs annually and that most application costs continue even when some positions are reduced. On overtime, Tiaghi said actual historic spending required the department to budget closer to $150,000 in overtime for 2026 to reflect weekend and after-hours work required for network upgrades and production deployments.
Committee members asked about P25 radio maintenance costs (about $725,000 annually), which Jeff Anderson, deputy CIO, said stem from a 10-year agreement with L3Harris and the amortization of earlier capital outlays on radio heads and tower work shared with North Aurora. Tiaghi and Anderson said the cities allocate costs by an agreed percentage related to sworn-officer counts for the shared radio network.
The committee thanked the IT team for the presentation. There were no formal votes on IT budget items at this meeting; the committee adjourned after a procedural motion.
