Austin Unveils Budget for Consolidated IT Department

Austin Technology Services would receive a proposed $202.2 million operating budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27 as the city moves more employees and spending into a centralized IT organization while pursuing $5.8 million in citywide technology savings.

The department’s proposed budget is $35 million more than its amended FY 2025-26 budget of $166.8 million. Much of that increase reflects the ONE-ATS initiative, which would transfer 191 IT positions from 15 departments into Austin Technology Services rather than create an equivalent amount of new citywide technology spending. The proposed budget states that no positions would be eliminated through the transfers.

The city expects the consolidation to reduce software and IT support costs by $5.8 million in FY 2026-27 through application rationalization, retirement of redundant systems and elimination of overlapping technology contracts. Planned savings would increase to $14.2 million in FY 2027-28.

The proposed Information and Technology Fund totals $151.3 million, compared with $111.3 million in the current amended budget. The Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center Fund would receive $34.9 million, while the Wireless Communication Services Fund would receive $16 million.

By program, the proposal includes $59.1 million for customer delivery, $47.4 million for enterprise operations and technology, $34.7 million for the Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center and public safety IT support and $15.2 million for information security. It also includes $8.5 million for customer engagement and $7.8 million for critical infrastructure and public safety.

The proposed budget adds $750,000 for computer software and hardware maintenance, $156,000 for cloud-based software application services and $125,000 for temporary employees supporting department administration. It also increases the transfer to the capital program for systems operations and maintenance by $1.5 million.

Technology Services’ planned work includes modernizing and putting into operation the city’s records management and computer-aided dispatch systems, retiring an initial group of redundant applications and improving incident management. The department also plans to use resident feedback to guide changes to austintexas.gov. A later phase calls for activating the second Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center and upgrading P25 transmitters used for public safety communications.

Technology spending also appears in other departmental budgets. Development Services would receive $1.5 million for permitting software licenses, maintenance and system upgrades. Financial Services would receive $1.95 million for enterprise software supporting financial, workforce and management operations, while Emergency Management would receive $75,000 to maintain and expand a software platform used for coordination, incident tracking and reporting.

Public safety communications funding includes an additional $477,653 for physical security and facility-management services at the emergency communications center and $410,000 for data connections used by public safety radios.

The full proposed city budget totals $6.6 billion. Council budget adoption and required rate hearings are scheduled for Aug. 12-14.