News
City's Tech Department Takes a Hit
Among the budget cuts Mayor Mike McGinn proposed yesterday was an 11.3 percent cut to the general-fund portion of the city's Department of Information Technology, commonly known as DoIT (pronounced "Do It.") City finance department director Beth Goldberg said the reason DoIT was being cut so heavily is because its functions are largely administrative. The department, which provides web services and tech support for the city, will also be responsible for implementing Mayor Mike McGinn's proposed broadband initiative, which is not yet funded, and is putting together an open-government portal proposed by City Council member Bruce Harrell. DoIT gets about a third of its budget from the general fund.
City council member Tom Rasmussen says that he's fine with cuts that only impact city employees---for example, if city council members have to wait a little longer to get computer support, that's fine with him. But if the cuts end up impacting direct services---like customer service for City Light customers---that's a different matter, Rasmussen says.
DoIt director Bill Schrier says that, for this year at least, the department will accomplish its cuts by not filling a vacant telephone operator position and by cutting back on contracts with outside vendors. Next year, however, may be a different story. "I'm concerned about next year," he says. Last year, he notes, the department cut $400,000 from the budget for Seattle Channel, the city-funded cable channel that provides access to city meetings and original programming. "I'll be going after a lot of those functions again" next year, he says.
Additionally, Schrier says that cutting even internal DoIT functions isn't necessarily cost-effective. For example, if the city cuts back on IT help-desk hours, highly paid city employees may end up leaning on each other for tech help instead of going to the IT department. "All of a sudden, you've got $35- and $40-an-hour people helping each other, as opposed to $25-an-hour person. That has a serious impact on service," Schrier says.
City council member Tom Rasmussen says that he's fine with cuts that only impact city employees---for example, if city council members have to wait a little longer to get computer support, that's fine with him. But if the cuts end up impacting direct services---like customer service for City Light customers---that's a different matter, Rasmussen says.
DoIt director Bill Schrier says that, for this year at least, the department will accomplish its cuts by not filling a vacant telephone operator position and by cutting back on contracts with outside vendors. Next year, however, may be a different story. "I'm concerned about next year," he says. Last year, he notes, the department cut $400,000 from the budget for Seattle Channel, the city-funded cable channel that provides access to city meetings and original programming. "I'll be going after a lot of those functions again" next year, he says.
Additionally, Schrier says that cutting even internal DoIT functions isn't necessarily cost-effective. For example, if the city cuts back on IT help-desk hours, highly paid city employees may end up leaning on each other for tech help instead of going to the IT department. "All of a sudden, you've got $35- and $40-an-hour people helping each other, as opposed to $25-an-hour person. That has a serious impact on service," Schrier says.
