Jane Edwards
A new Public Technology Institute survey has found that 47 percent of information technology executives of cities and counties across the U.S. think their local IT departments will continue to operate over the next year at current budget levels.
PTI polled 274 local government IT leaders with Deltek and 74 percent of the respondents said they do not expect to see any changes in education and travel budget levels for IT personnel, PTI said in a September report.
When asked about the current level of funding for several IT areas, 43 percent of the respondents cited their agencies have “inadequate†funds to support in-house IT staffing, followed by 41 percent who said their local IT offices have insufficient resources to address information security issues.
The survey also found that more than 60 percent of respondents think their local government leaders view their IT departments as an investment to achieve cost savings in other areas, compared with 37 percent who believe public officials see their agencies as a target for budget cuts.
When it comes to funding allotted by U.S. city and county governments for personnel development and training programs, only 14 percent said they are positive that budgets for such initiatives will increase in the next year, according to the report.
