Profiles in Government: Long Beach’s Priorities, IT Spending

As local governments go, the city of Long Beach is a heavy hitter when it comes to IT budget and technological innovation.

The bustling port city of about 450,000 residents boasts an annual operating budget of more than $3.7 billion and an estimated IT budget of $74.3 million for this fiscal year.

Getting a slice of that large IT budget means that vendors must register with the city’s Long Beach Buys portal, where open and ongoing procurements are advertised. This system is used for solicitations between $25,000 and $100,000, while those more than $100,000 are considered more formal and are publicly advertised.

During an exclusive member briefing Dec. 2, attendees can expect to hear about near- and long-term plans directly from Director of Technology and Innovation and CIO Lea Eriksen and Deputy Director of Technology and Innovation Rob Centeno.

Eriksen has been leading IT operations since January 2018, and has held multiple roles in the city government dating back to 2014, including director of finance and budget manager.

Centeno, meanwhile, joined the city from the private sector in October 2022, and has held a number of IT leadership roles with C5 Enterprises, AECOM, FireScope and NBCUniversal, among others.

The city was recently awarded a top ranking in the 2025 Digital Cities Survey* for its holistic and collaborative approach to local government IT, which is represented in its four-year 2028 IT Strategic Roadmap.

The initiatives outlined in that document include modernization of cloud-based phone systems, implementation of mobile device management software, the development of an enhanced data protection policy, network hardware upgrades, software discovery and enhancements to the human resources system, among many others.

To date, the city has been very focused on the creation of an innovative and inclusive technology environment. In September 2024, officials shared details about the newly minted Digital Inclusion Implementation Plan and efforts to learn more about community need through the Long Beach Collaboratory (LB Co-Lab) program.

“We even had workshops with community members, and a survey. From there we identified 31 actionable recommendations that are helping to guide us as a technology organization to support the city’s 2030 strategic vision and also our preparedness for the 2028 Olympics,” Eriksen told Government Technology*.

*The Digital Cities Survey is conducted by the Center for Digital Government, part of e.Republic, the parent company of both Government Technology and Industry Insider — California.