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IT director warns end of federal grant will raise county IT costs; pitches AI training with caution on PII
Summary
Jeremy Stevens said ending a four‑year grant that covered cybersecurity and training will raise IT costs for 2027; he described continuing subscriptions (CrowdStrike, Novo4, Udemy), savings from volume discounts, ongoing capital needs, and county AI training while urging guardrails and not to place PII in models.
Jeremy Stevens, information systems director (speaker 13), told the council his 2027 IT request is about a 5% increase primarily because the four-year SLCGP grant that covered software and services has ended. "The bulk of it is labeled as new services, but they're not really new services," he said, noting CrowdStrike, Novo4 and Udemy are ongoing expenses the county must now budget for after grant support ends.
Stevens described specific items that drove the increase: expanded license counts, annual maintenance, vendor price increases and the need to keep a modest equipment-replacement buffer. He said the county has invested in a 10‑gig fiber network between buildings and described plans to fund remaining switch replacements, increased cybersecurity monitoring and a draft AI policy and training program. Stevens cautioned: "Don't put PII, don't put sensitive data into the AI," and said the county is piloting government-approved tools with guardrails for staff training.
