MORE than $60,000 has been spent on Loxton Waikerie Council technology and office upgrades over the past six months, with one project passing its expected budget.
IT upgrades and office renovations for council staff began in August last year with the aim of creating an expanded collaborative working environment in the Loxton and Waikerie offices.
As part of the renovations, equipment, files and records were cleaned, organised and relocated, and the new Loxton office was painted, furnished and had carpets installed.
The project, completed in January, had been estimated to cost $20,000, but totalled to around $35,000 instead.
However, the council reported that the $15,000 over expenditure would be funded from the savings in the ITC budget.
“We changed how we were doing our server room,” said David Beaton, Loxton Waikerie Council CEO.
“We were short on space so we digitised our records, and we had the extra area to move our finance team, as well as move our data points and server room.
“It cost a bit more money than we thought it was going to, but the council was aware of that and saw it as a great project.”
Additional IT upgrades for both offices are still in progress and expected to be completed in June.
As it stands, $34,000 has been spent procuring, configuring and installing network switches, laptops and video conferencing equipment for staff members, including ipads for the council’s project manager, and asset and property co-ordinator, as well as installing electronic cash drawers for each office.
Mr Beaton said both projects were part of the items needed to be completed through the year.
“Those reports are just what we put in our annual budget,” he said.
“So we just report back to the council every couple of months on the status of where those things are at.
“The idea is just to program things we’ve been updating for the current financial year – it’s just the ones programed through the year we needed to do.”