Poll: Should Town & School Department Combine IT Services?

Earlier this week, . The verdict: the two entities should consolidate their respective departments.

Elert and Associates, the group that performed the study, suggested that the town's IT director – Jason Albuquerque – oversee this proposed combined IT department. If the departments are combined, the study recommends the elimination of one position, reducing staff from eight to seven employees, and result in $72,000 in savings.

For this consolidation to be successful, the Elert study states that all parties need to buy in to the plan. However, if the past four years have been any indication, that may be a tall order. Since the town’s consolidation committee was created four and a half years ago to study cost-saving measures, there has been no official consolidation of services between the town and school department.

During Monday's joint meeting between the North Kingstown Town Council and School Committee, . With technology and education becoming more and more interconnected, Auger stated he is also apprehensive about losing control over IT within the school system.

Though the consolidation could save North Kingstown as much as $450,000, nearly $303,500 worth of infrastructure improvements would be needed – $293,000 on the school side alone.