LITTLE ROCK — After previously rejecting a plea for $90,000 extra for technology upgrades for the county's information systems, Pulaski County budget officials Thursday approved a plan allowing the county treasurer's office to pick up the tab.
With outdated hardware and software, Pulaski County's information systems are ripe for security problems, said Joe Musgrove, the manager for information systems that include computer networks and communication lines for 20 county departments.
"Our technical system hashit the iceberg," Musgrove said. "What holds us together is duct tape and string. ... We are at a point where we can't do it anymore."
Earlier this month, Musgrove asked the Budget Committee of the Pulaski County Quorum Court to fund the upgrades from the general fund, but county officials said they didn't have the money. Thursday, the same body voted unanimously to approve the agreement with the treasurer's office.
Because failures with the technology system could hurt the treasurer's office, Pulaski County Treasurer DebraBuckner agreed to take $98,865 - nearly $9,000 more than was originally requested - from her office's automation reserve fund and add it to her budget to pay for the upgrades.
Money for the automation fund comes from a commission the treasurer's office charges to its clients - including school districts, cities and other governmental entities - for handling the more than $550 million that goes through the office each year.
State law allows up to 10 percent of the total commissions to be set aside for an automation reserve fund that can be spent to improve automation at the treasurer's office. The automation reserve fund now has more than $1.04 million.
Technology improvements to the county's information systems would help improve automation in her office and is a great use of the money, Buckner said.
"A partnership is what we should be doing," Buckner said, adding that the previous information systems director and county comptroller rejected similar offers. "There would not be a more appropriate use for this money."
Musgrove highlighted a number of problems with the county's current technology infrastructure, including:
Security problems, with no centralized system to monitor and alert staff to unauthorizedaccess to technical systems and data or misuse and abuse of those systems.
No centralized computermanagement system, requiring upgrades to be done to each individual computer, rather than the system as a whole.
Limited data-storage capabilities, increasing the odds of losing and not being able to retrieve data.
E-mail software that cannot be upgraded or improved.
Slow cable and communication infrastructure for remote locations.
The money from the automation fund will pay for upgrades to phone lines used for network and Internet connections; additional hardware such as firewalls, routers and switches; a new e-mail server; and other hardware and software, Musgrove said.
The agreement means that the county's proposed 2008 budget will include $749,585 for the county's information systems department - the same amount included in the 2007 budget. The county treasurer's automation fund spending will increase from $92,000 in 2007 to $192,865 for 2008, which includes the money for the technology upgrades as well as an additional $2,000 from the previous year's budget. Buckner said she plans to contribute to upgrades every year.
The Quorum Court is expected to formally adopt its $53.4 million budget for 2008 - an increase of about $950,000 from 2007 - in November.
Arkansas, Pages 13, 16 on 10/26/2007