LCRA Approves $64M for Broadband, Cybersecurity and Digital Services

The Lower Colorado River Authority’s (LCRA) Fiscal Year 2027 capital plan includes about $64 million in recommended and approved technology-related spending, with the largest investments tied to telecommunications, broadband expansion, radio system work, digital services and cybersecurity.

The technology items are part of LCRA’s broader FY 2027 plan, which includes a $655.6 million operating budget and $1.8 billion in capital investments. LCRA’s Board of Directors approved the plan May 21 and said the capital investments will be funded primarily through its own revenues and debt.

The largest approved technology line items are in telecommunications. LCRA’s approved FY 2027 telecommunications projects total about $42 million, with a five-year total of about $92.4 million. Those projects include $16.8 million for radio access network migration, $16.1 million for rural broadband middle-mile expansion, $4 million for Kerr County Broadband Expansion, $2.5 million for new towers and $2.2 million for Blanco and Burnet counties radio sites.

Recommended telecommunications projects add about $18 million in FY 2027 spending.

The plan describes the dense wavelength division multiplexing project as an effort to increase bandwidth across LCRA’s fiber backbone and provide alternate circuit paths for telecommunications traffic. The project includes work across sites such as Bergheim, Kendall County and Zorn substations, the Fayette Power Project Communications Building, McKinney Roughs Nature Park and the Telecommunications Operations Control Center at the Dalchau Service Center.

Digital services and cybersecurity account for smaller technology investments. Recommended FY 2027 spending includes $452,000 in digital services general additions, $2.1 million in digital services minor capital, $1 million for an operational technology HyperFlex replacement and $280,000 in cybersecurity minor capital.

Future cybersecurity and digital services projects include $1 million for an intrusion detection system and intrusion prevention system extranet, $2.3 million in cybersecurity minor capital, $2.1 million for an edge network upgrade, $2.5 million in digital services general additions and $8.1 million in digital services minor capital through FY 2031.

Future telecommunications work includes additional fiber, LTE, tower, radio and transport-network projects. Those technology items sit within LCRA’s broader Enterprise Support capital plan, which also includes facilities, finance, legal, public safety, regulatory functions and other business-support areas. Recommended and approved Enterprise Support projects total $92.7 million in FY 2027 and $340 million through FY 2031.

The business plan also ties the technology work to broadband access and public safety infrastructure. LCRA said it is making strategic investments during the next five years to upgrade and expand its fiber network and radio systems, and that it is collaborating with the Kerrville Public Utility Board to build broadband infrastructure for a flood warning system in Kerr County.