The city of Plano’s recommended Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget includes $6.2 million for scheduled technology replacements alongside planned investments in cybersecurity, network infrastructure, software and public safety systems.
The proposed $6.2 million Technology Replacement Fund includes $2 million for servers, switches, routers and storage area network as well as $1.5 million for city desktop and laptop leases.
Plano would also allocate $1.2 million to upgrade audiovisual equipment at the city’s Emergency Operations Center. Other proposed replacements include $1.9 million for audiovisual systems, $350,000 for security cameras, $143,000 for radio-frequency identification equipment, $140,000 for telecommunications, $130,000 for outdoor warning sirens and $15,000 for printers and plotters.
The Technology Replacement Fund receives annual payments from city departments based on equipment leases. Its proposed Fiscal Year 2026-27 revenue totals $4 million.
The separate Technology Fund would receive $1.6 million in revenue and includes $116,000 for identified improvements and system upgrades. The proposed projects include $42,000 for Brightly Origin asset-management software, $32,000 for a remote-door system at Davis Library and $16,500 for a computer refresh at the Traffic Management Center.
The fund also includes $15,000 for software used to manage fats, oils and grease and $10,135 for ticketing software licenses and printers. Another $250,000 would be transferred from the Technology Fund to support the city website.
Plano’s Technology Solutions operation would continue work on several infrastructure initiatives. The city plans to replace 72 network switches at traffic intersections because the existing devices have reached the end of their lifecycle.
The proposed work also includes replacing four Session Border Controllers that connect the city’s voice systems with Frontier, Microsoft Teams and Talkdesk. The devices provide encryption, call validation and protection against fraud and denial-of-service attacks.
Technology Solutions also plans to renew Plano’s enterprise backup system and begin evaluating a replacement for the city’s physical access-control system. The access-control work would include defining requirements, evaluating potential solutions and developing a longer-term physical security road map with other city departments.
Plano proposes $9.5 million for its technology infrastructure program, down 3.3 percent from its current budget. The total includes $5.5 million for operations and maintenance and $4 million for salaries and wages.
Cybersecurity spending would increase within the Information Security program. The recommended budget provides $2.4 million for the program, a 21.1 percent increase from the current budget, including $1.6 million for operations and maintenance.
Plano also plans to evaluate its managed detection and response provider, conduct an enterprise risk assessment and carry out organization-wide penetration testing. The city intends to expand cybersecurity and artificial intelligence awareness training while assessing requirements for a formal privacy program.
The Applications program would receive $12.5 million, including $6.5 million for operations and maintenance. The program’s plans include laying the technical and governance groundwork for a future AI-enabled “digital front door” through which residents could find information, make payments, use library services and submit service requests.
The initial work would focus on content management, application programming interface access, data architecture and AI governance rather than deployment of a public-facing AI service during the coming Fiscal Year.
Technology spending also appears outside the city’s central IT funds. Plano proposes $426,500 for specialized police equipment and software as well as continued funding for Motorola radio integration with the city’s computer-aided dispatch system.
The Police Equipment Replacement Fund includes $4 million for body-worn cameras, portable camera towers, two drones, mobile radios, ticket-writing devices and other equipment. The recommended budget does not identify vendors for those purchases or state which items would require new competitive solicitations.
The proposed budget remains subject to City Council review before adoption.
Plano Budget Proposes $6.2M in Technology Replacements
What to Know:
- The replacement plan covers core infrastructure, employee devices, security cameras, audiovisual systems and emergency communications equipment.
- Information Security funding would rise 21.1 percent, supporting zero-trust access, network detection, penetration testing and expanded risk management.
- Other planned work includes new asset-management software, traffic-management computers and foundational development for an AI-enabled digital service portal.
Smiley N. Pool/TNS
