Arapahoe County weighs faster return to county data center after Microsoft price increase
County staff told commissioners Microsoft ended a lower-cost licensing option, increasing annual costs for part of the county’s cloud setup from about $130,000 to about $230,000 and prompting a push to buy hardware sooner.
Arapahoe County staff told commissioners Tuesday that Microsoft eliminated a lower-cost licensing option, increasing annual costs for part of the county’s cloud setup from about $130,000 to about $230,000.
During a July 7 study session, staff said the county wants to speed up a planned return of servers and storage to the county data center to avoid the higher cost. According to the meeting video, staff said the county could use previously approved Fund 70 money and existing fixed-asset allocations to buy storage hardware sooner than planned instead of waiting for the 2027 budget cycle.
Staff said the plan would reappropriate money already approved for replacement purchases rather than add new spending this year. The study-session agenda described the item as “IT Capital Assets Funds Appropriation to 2026.”
No formal vote was recorded in the agenda materials reviewed. In the meeting record, commissioners asked about timing, risk and savings before giving informal support to move ahead with budget review and the reappropriation plan.
Staff also said an accelerated hardware purchase could help the county avoid the higher Microsoft charge while preserving the option to renegotiate or end its Google cloud contract early. If hardware lead times delay the shift, staff said they would seek a month-to-month extension with Google. Commissioners said the Google subscription would not continue beyond December 2027 and that the county did not plan to renew it.