Hiring a Full-Time IT Employee: Not a Good Investment for Smaller Municipalities

Municipalities eventually get to a point when they realize that information technology needs careful handling by professionals. Non-technical staff can only do so much with IT, and liability concerns make it essential to hire professionals to address areas like data backup, cybersecurity, and compliance.

However, municipalities often have limited budgets and want to make sure they invest that money appropriately. A tempting solution is to hire a full-time IT employee. That way, a municipality will have someone onsite every day to handle IT problems and concerns.

We’re not against the hiring of full-time IT professionals. Sometimes, that can make sense for a municipality—especially larger municipalities. However, we’ve found through many years of experience that the disadvantages usually outweigh the few advantages for smaller municipalities.

One of our clients—a city with a population of about 4,500 people—recently told us that they faced the choice between hiring a full-time IT person or contracting with a vendor. When assessing the two choices, many disadvantages cropped up for the full-time option.

1. Salaries Too High for Municipality Size, Budget, and Staffing Model

While salaries obviously vary around the country, for simplicity’s sake we’ll look at a median salary across the United States. According to PayScale, the median salary for a systems administrator is $69,410. Let’s round the salary up to $70,000 to simplify our example.

That means a municipality would have to budget around $70,000 plus about $28,000 for employee benefits. The systems administrator (or any other IT-specific role) would be limited to specific roles and responsibilities—meaning that person would lack knowledge about other IT areas. That’s $98,000 a year for an IT employee who is limited in knowledge.

Not only is $98,000 per year expensive but it also conflicts with staffing models appropriate for smaller municipalities. A full-time person on site for 40 hours per week may be overkill if a municipality only has a small amount of IT systems, hardware, and software. Also, what happens when they go on vacation or leave your municipality for another job?

2. An IT Employee’s Experience Will Be Varied and Inconsistent

Typically, your $98,000 will go toward someone with limited experience. Often, IT employees will lack municipal experience and not understand how municipalities work. There are also many areas of IT. It’s impossible to find someone experienced in everything such as network and systems support, data backup and disaster recovery, server management, software upgrades and maintenance, hardware upgrades and maintenance, website hosting and maintenance, document management systems, email software, open records requests, policy and compliance, and video archiving.

This employee will also likely lack strategic leadership. You may find someone to keep your computers running but that person may not truly own your IT environment and help you plan for the future.

3. Attracting and Retaining IT Talent Will Be Tough

For many smaller municipalities, a dearth of local IT talent can affect hiring. Many IT professionals gravitate to a handful of highly populated metro areas. If you’re more than an hour outside one of these areas, it can be tough to find, attract, and retain IT professionals who are constantly bombarded by IT recruiters. You’re always competing with the market, even if you’re lucky to hire a very talented IT professional in your area.

Plus, the best IT professionals want to grow and progress in their careers. This is difficult when an IT professional will likely serve your municipality as a one-person IT shop. If no growth opportunities exist for them, it is likely that they might leave for another position – or not consider working for your municipality at all.

Financial Advantages of Contracting with a Managed Services Provider (MSP) Instead of Hiring a Full-Time Employee

Contracting with an experienced MSP is often a great alternative to a full-time employee because:

• The price for mid-to-high range managed IT services runs from $150-$175 per user per month. For example, if you have 30 employees (users), you will pay between $54,000 and $63,000 a year for an MSP. Compared to the $98,000 salary for a full-time employee, this is a very affordable cost for the benefits you receive below. Plus, an MSP isn’t just one person—it includes a team of engineers, essential tools, and many software licenses. When you compare an MSP with hiring a single person, an MSP starts to become a no-brainer in terms of both cost and benefits.
• You can receive 24/7/365 support from municipal-experienced IT engineers for less than the cost of a full-time employee. On cost alone, the comparison between what a full-time employee can accomplish versus what an MSP can accomplish is not even close in terms of both financial investment and getting things done.
• A 24/7/365 MSP doesn’t take a break. They won’t get sick, go on vacation, or leave you suddenly because they got offered a better job. That leads to ongoing IT stability and continuity.
• A team of municipal-experienced IT engineers covers all aspects of IT. Instead of relying on the knowledge of a single person, an MSP’s team will cover all aspects of IT from data backup to strategic guidance, from video archiving to document management. It’s like having the IT expertise that only large companies used to enjoy.

The client mentioned above eventually chose VC3 after making these evaluations. It made more sense from a cost and knowledge perspective to go with us. When you face a similar dilemma, make sure you weigh your financial options carefully.

Looking to maximize your municipality's IT investments while minimizing costs and risks? Partnering with a trusted Managed Services Provider (MSP) could be the smarter choice for your municipality. Let us help you tackle your IT needs with a team of municipal-experienced professionals ready to deliver 24/7/365 support, strategic guidance, and peace of mind—all for less than the cost of hiring a full-time IT employee.

Contact us today to explore how our tailored IT solutions can support your municipality’s goals!