County tech plan seeks $124M over 10 years to refresh networks, devices and constituent services

Arlingtons Department of Technology Services told the County Board that much of the countys technology ask is routine state-of-good-repair work amplified by rising hardware and subscription costs. DTS Director Holly said the departments $124.4 million 10-year request prioritizes keeping the countys backbone systems reliable and secure while modernizing constituent-facing services.

The pitch: DTS described four guiding principles: sustain critical back-end systems, reuse and right-size existing assets, be mindful of operating-cost impacts, and ensure service reliability and security. Holly said the largest drivers in the current plan are network-device modernization and workforce-device modernization, reflecting equipment price increases.

Concrete items and timing: DTS outlined a workforce-device refresh to maintain 3,700 laptops and 1,000 desktops on multi-year cycles (roughly 950 laptops and 200 desktops replaced annually under the plan). The department also described hub-site/network switch refreshes conducted in 20252026, a move to a cloud-based telephone system (reducing handsets from about 4,300 to 731), ongoing Connect Arlington fiber replenishment and undergrounding across schools and county facilities, and continued server and AV refreshes. Holly said DTS reduced its AV ask from a prior $6.6 million request to $1.6 million by narrowing attention to the most-used conference rooms.

Cloud and budgets: DTS emphasized an industry-wide shift from one-time capital purchases toward subscription-based services (SaaS/PaaS), warning that while some capital lines shrink the countys operating budget will face higher ongoing costs — a trade-off the county will need to manage as applications migrate to cloud models.

Constituent-facing priorities: DTS proposed a countywide single sign-on and an expansion of the countys digital-services platform (AVA 3.0). Those investments would enable broader online payments and an AI-enabled phone/chat experience intended to route more routine requests away from staff and improve customer self-service.

Board questions: Members asked about data-center operating-cost projections for cloud consumption (DTS said those are anticipated operating impacts not included in CIP totals), options for device-lease vs. buy models, stronger inflation assumptions in a volatile market and the shifting capitaltooperating balance. DTS said it is evaluating leasing and bring-your-own-device options and that short-term (near-year) projections are more reliable than distant outyears in technology planning.

Next steps: DTS will take follow-up questions and provide more detail on specific program lines and on timing for single sign-on and AVA expansion.