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Knox County separates IT into its own department and approves preliminary budget with staffing request
Summary
Commissioners approved a preliminary standalone IT budget that includes a proposed new position to improve staffing ratios and covers contract and training cost increases; IT staff said the extra position would move ratios closer to industry averages and allow more proactive cybersecurity work.
The Knox County Commission's Court approved a preliminary information-technology budget that establishes IT as a separate department and includes a request for an additional IT position.
Zach (S6), speaking for the IT team, said the department was split out of administration for 2025 and requested one new hire to reduce the staffing ratio and shift work from reactive help-desk responses to proactive cyber-risk management. "We serve a wide variety of departments... one additional IT person... takes us down to 1 to 40 if we get this additional person," Zach said, arguing the hire would let staff focus on management-level preventative work rather than daily ticket responses.
Zach also flagged significant contract and training cost drivers: an upcoming expiration of a Google contract produced a steep cost increase for the last months of 2025, and new FBI criminal-justice incident-response training requirements for systems that interface with criminal justice data will raise training costs (the vendor participates in a state-local partnership and offered a 50% discount on typical rates).
Commissioners questioned whether one new position was sufficient and discussed future staffing needs; staff and several commissioners agreed the requested position would materially improve the department's capacity while acknowledging future hires might be needed. A motion to accept the IT budget preliminarily was moved, seconded and approved on a voice vote.
The transcript records the stated amount on the record for the IT budget but does not provide a full roll-call vote tally in the transcript.
