$100K loan for tech upgrade

The Village of Chase will be securing a $100,000 loan to pay for upgrades to its aging information technology infrastructure.

At the village council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24, staff brought forward a recommendation to authorize the loan which would cover costs associated with replacing and upgrading the municipality's IT infrastructure.

The village has undergone a comprehensive review of its existing IT needs, and found the majority of its infrastructure had passed the expected life cycle and was past due for replacement.

Debbie Lovin, the village’s chief financial officer, said the upgrades are important for protecting the village's data from online threats and improving online service functionality.

“It's not just our office here, it's all of our buildings, it's our public works yard, it's our water treatment plant, it's the fire hall, and just the infrastructure that we need to bring us up to a decent standard,” Lovin explained.

During the 2024 budget process, the village had previously set aside $40,000 for server replacement. However, after undertaking a more thorough IT infrastructure review, it found more systems that needed replacing and the estimated cost has risen substantially.

The proposed IT capital projects estimate $11,000 for server replacement, $17,500 for network equipment, $24,500 for server installation and configuration, $9,000 for computer replacement, $8,000 for ethernet installation, $6,000 for fibre optic installation and other miscellaneous costs for an estimated total of $100,000.

"We're hoping that we can come in under the $100,000, but that's basically where we're standing right now," Lovin said.

The plan would see the village pay back the loan over the course of three years, which as Lovin explained, was the same amount of time as the expected life cycle of the new server.

“The server should only last us about three years,” Lovin said. “Our existing server is now six years old, so we're kind of on borrowed time.”

With the new plan, staff asked council to reallocate $10,000 from the IT equipment capital budget in order to cover the monthly repayment costs of the loan for the rest of 2024.

The estimated monthly payments are $2,995.

The village council unanimously approved the motion to take out a $100,000 loan for the IT infrastructure upgrades.