In late March, as the Garden City Village Board considered the 2024-25 budget, Village Administrator Ralph V. Suozzi announced that the administrative budget would allocate resources to increase staffing and upgrade the library's information technology infrastructure. Shared a note about sharing.
The Board heard from Administrator Suozzi during its budget work session on Wednesday, March 20th. Described the cost centers included in management budget accounting: Board of Trustees Expenses, Village Attorney's Office, Administrative and Village Clerk's Office Staff and Equipment, Human Resources/Human Resources, Central Data Processing (referred to as IT), Public Relations. and village historian.
The overall administration budget was $2.115 million, a 4% decrease from the previous budget. This represents a savings of $57,600 through reduced reliance on third-party IT consultant services from our leading technology partner, SourcePass, and reduced on-site resources to 12 hours per week. We eliminated blocks of time that were approximately $35,000 worth of spending for the year,” Suozzi told the board.
The village's former consultant, Total Technology Solutions, now operates as a subsidiary of SourcePass.
The main reasons for the cost increase are payroll-related expenses, which increased from $1.249 million this year to $1.283 million in the 2024-25 budget, and the software maintenance budget line.
Administrator Suozzi explained that the software needs are system-wide, and the Village of Garden City changed its platform from Microsoft Office 365 to a newer version that includes enhanced cybersecurity features. “This isolates Microsoft networking products from the outside world and prevents hacking from occurring.”
The expiration of the village's software license has also increased the cost of maintaining the software, but Suozzi said it will not be a recurring expense for the program's five-year updates.
The one-person increase in administrative staffing is for an Information Technology Assistant II to work in conjunction with Ryan Sheehan, the village's senior IT specialist. The new employee will work alongside him and will cover the Village's full business hours on weekdays. Sheehan arrives early in the morning to assist the Garden City Police Department with its technical needs and reporting. The new person's schedule overlaps with his shifts.
In addition, IT resources work collaboratively with library staff to meet needs.
“For years, I have encouraged GCPL to develop consulting relationships with major IT partners, just as the Village has successfully done for the past five years. Approved a resolution authorizing the hiring of SourcePass by May 31st. The library's budget also includes funding for one year of IT support, which is part of the village's budgeting strategy. Ryan Sheehan and GCPL's computer systems by asking the library to offset 20% of this cost by having its employees work at GCPL one day each week to learn and assist with both network environments. We requested that librarian Joe Agoria provide backup for both of them, as they are the library's only IT resource,” Suozzi explained.
The main task, in which the new hires will be an integral part, is to migrate GCPL's network infrastructure “in parallel with the modernization and changes we have already implemented across the village network.” The GCPL system includes a level of connectivity and integration with the Nassau Library System (NLS) network and resources.
The village's administrative budget includes 13 full-time positions, an increase of one headcount starting in the 2023-24 budget. In September 2023, the budget was revised to include an increase in the number of village judicial court clerks and a transfer of the main accounting clerk (in charge of payroll operations) from the administration department to the Ministry of Finance budget. After receiving a question from Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan comparing the staffing increase to the increase in the 2023-24 budget, Administrator Suozzi said the total was only a “net increase of one person.”
“At the recommendation of the village's two independent auditors and at the direction of the village president, our payroll function will be separated from the human resources function of the administration department, starting June 1st next fiscal year,” he told the trustees. It will come into effect from today.” Financial Audit Committee. We have already transferred the person to the finance department. ”
Mayor Carter Flanagan has reviewed the budget, and aside from moving the Chief Treasurer to the Finance Department, the position of Clerk of Courts (current fiscal year) was added a year ago, and the position of Assistant Information Technology was added in 2024. He said that a slot for Government II has also been added. 2025.
Administrative Expenses Budget benefits and taxes were not presented at the March 20 budget work session, but Suozzi noted the cost is approximately $595,000.
Mr. Suozzi also provided details on government capital projects, including a $259,000 village hall computer room renovation project that has updated design specifications with overhead piping.
As noted in the capital project data, only $29,000 was spent on design specification work, leaving $230,000 for computer room renovations.
Suozzi estimates that design work will be completed by mid-May, with construction, wiring and network connections taking approximately six to nine months.
Administrator Suozzi commented that so far the improvements to the village's network have been worthwhile, with old wiring fixed and kept safe.
Next year's budgeted amount of $125,000 will go towards two or three new file servers that are at the end of their useful life and need to be upgraded.
A one-time funding of $100,000 has been allocated for the 2025-2026 digital scanning project as part of the five-year Administrative Capital Project Outlook. Suozzi said this is a replacement for the project, and the five-year outlook from the newly adopted budget does not propose digital scanning in any other budget year. He suggested that the project does not require a five-year funding plan.
“As you know, we need to preserve digital records forever, so we scan files. Scanning is one part of it, and the second part involves file and data verification. “Records that need to be kept for up to six years are not being scanned,” Suozzi said.
