Commissioners approve joint ordinance to create self-funded IT billing fund

The Adams County Board of Commissioners approved a joint ordinance with the county council (Ordinance 2025-8) to establish a self-funded, nonreverting account for information technology billing and to separate certain IT lines including cybersecurity and GIS from the general IT budget.

Clayton (county staff) told commissioners the joint ordinance would create a fund — referenced in the discussion as account 4016 — to receive invoices and billing from municipalities that contract with Adams County for IT services. "This would be a self funded nonreverting fund for which any and all of the billing that goes out to the smaller municipalities for to which Adams County provides IT services... All of the funds from that billing will now go into this fund," Clayton said.

Why it matters: County officials said separating revenues and expenses for contracted IT services and creating separate budget lines for cybersecurity and GIS will make spending more transparent and better align IT budgeting with grant and reporting requirements.

Action: Commissioner Doug moved approval and a second was made; commissioners approved the ordinance. The county council had already passed the joint ordinance earlier in the day, Clayton said.

Details: The fund will show both income and expenses separately (line 4016) and is intended to let council and commissioners see year-by-year what departments spend on IT. Clayton said cybersecurity and GIS lines will be outside the 9600 general IT line and will be controllable by the auditor’s office and IT staff.

Next steps: County staff and the auditor’s office will implement accounting changes to track income and expenses in the new fund.