Business Technology Investment Program (BTIP)
At a glance
Based on auto-generated captions; names, numbers and details may be misheard.
- What: Redmond's business technology investment plan, part of the preliminary 2027-2028 budget: described in testimony as about $10 million through 2028 and $18 million through 2032.
- Where it stands: introduced to the Finance, Administration, and Communications committee on 2026-10-13 (about 23 slides, high level; questions moved to budget deliberations); a public hearing was held 2026-10-20 together with the budget; one speaker questioned it. No decision.
- Next: council budget deliberations, the next one the following Tuesday (October 27).
Concerns raised in testimony
- David Morton asked how community input shaped the program and said figures differ between the October 13 presentation and the BTIP document (for example Microsoft license upgrades $228,000 vs. $336,000, and fire timekeeping evaluation $224,000 vs. $246,000).
- He questioned priorities: city building security updates ($1.95 million plus ongoing costs) before the proof of concept is done, and an airspace management item for commercial drone delivery ($883,000).
- He asked for a privacy review of a $300,000 request relying on anonymized cell-phone data, and that PFAS testing and an independent arborist be ranked above new non-urgent technology starts.
- These figures are the speaker's reading of the documents; the council did not respond that night.
Committee overview (2026-10-13)
- Technology spending is now centralized under technology and information services: software purchasing in 2025-2026 and the full portfolio (one-time projects plus subscriptions and maintenance) in the new budget. Presenters: CIO Mike Marshand, PMO manager Carmen Hall, finance staff and Cochran.
- Carried over: Dynamics 365 phase 2, fixed assets module, workforce management phase 2, data integration and centralization (with public works), project-management software integration, police drone program, and development platform process improvements (delayed by the new department).
- New in 2027-2028: cashiering system update, enterprise content management RFP, fire timekeeping and scheduling evaluation, city building security updates (cloud card readers, proof of concept at one building), utility billing payment replacement, and council chambers broadcast software (vendor selection under way). A roadmap runs to 2032 (financial reporting, policy manager, customer service system, advanced water metering support, fiber, Windows 11).
- Parsi said the budget document (page 402) calls the police drone platform foreign-made; Chief Lowe said both platforms are American-made and NDAA compliant and asked that the document be corrected. Staff said the drone line shows zero BTIP spend so far.
- Requests: CIP-style status reporting (Forsythe); careful framing of the chambers broadcast change since it affects a staff job (Forsythe); in-house versus contracted detail per project (Prakriya); airspace management not shown as funded though planning already occurred (Stuart, Soni; see Drone Coordination Office); number of remaining Dynamics phases (Stuart); quantified return on investment (Soni); autopay for the new utility payment system.
Sources
Discussion time
About 32 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-20 - City Council Business Meeting | 3 |
| 2026-10-13 - Committee of the Whole | 29 |
Log
- 2026-10-20 - City Council Business Meeting — Public hearing testimony by David Morton on figures, priorities and privacy; no council response.
- 2026-10-13 - Committee of the Whole — Staff introduced the full technology portfolio; councilmembers raised drone platform, airspace management, reporting and return-on-investment questions for the budget deliberations.