The Bartholomew County Council is considering a request from the county’s IT department to add three new employees.
The largest line-item expense in the proposal is $648,618 for personnel — 88% higher than the allocation this year for IT employees.
With six current employees, the IT department is requesting to add three new positions with the following salaries: a system administrator ($55,000), an IT support technician ($48,000) and a technical administrative assistant ($45,000).
There is also a systems administrator position that pays $75,000 annually that is currently vacant.
When IT director Scott Mayes was asked about the need for such an expanded staff, he provided the county council with a list of 44 new IT project requests his department has received. The cost of those proposed new requests is up $291,000 from this year, Mayes said.
“We have a lot of (administrators) out there who have a lot of things they want to do for their departments,” Mayes told the council. “But we are just hammered to the point where we can’t entertain all of those in a timely manner.”
In addition, five strategic initiatives are also being developed. These initiatives encompass many projects working together to serve the needs of a larger organization, and are usually so large and complex that they required a program manager to oversee the project.
Six service cost increases for next year cited by Mayes include:
Phone services (new line requests) — $20,000
Fiber services (facility add and moves) — $14,400
New software services — $40,000
Public safety software (vendor increase) — $15,000
Zoom video teleconferencing systems — $20,000
Audio/visual systems at the courthouse — $5,000
Existing problems include maintaining email updates and repairs, which Mayes says “is turning into a critical failure point for our county.”
He also emphasized the need to addresses glitches within the county’s website. One proposed expense and project is a new website specifically dedicated to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, the IT director said.
Like most other department heads, Mayes is requesting a 4% salary increase for his employees.
The county council’s budget discussions are expected to wrap up this afternoon. While the council will have sufficient funds to cover the proposed $57,332,619 county budget, some council members worry that inflation could erode the county’s financial health next year. That indicates some cuts might be considered.
The council is scheduled to have a preliminary first reading vote on next year’s budget at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 14. Final reading and adoption is scheduled at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12.
