Kosh Solutions’ Guide to Municipal IT Costs in New Mexico
- Brandon Alsup
- Apr 10
- 3 min read
Municipal leaders in New Mexico are facing at least one of these:
Aging IT infrastructure
Limited staff
Tight budget
New cybersecurity risks
Pressure to “modernize” without knowing where to start
We get it—because we support five cities and counties across the state. From those partnerships, we’ve seen a wide range of IT support structures, budgets, and needs. And we’re often asked the same question:
“What should IT services actually cost for a city like ours?”
The answer? A very unsatisfactory, "it depends".
What We See: Real-World Municipal IT Pricing
Across the cities and counties we serve in New Mexico, we see costs ranging from: $1.50 to $10.80 per citizen, per month.
For a real-world example, one of our customers is a New Mexico town with a population just over 6,000. They pay approximately $9,600 per month for IT services—about $1.60 per citizen per month.
“When we talk to city managers or county IT leads, they’re not looking to overspend—they’re looking to stop playing whack-a-mole with technology. If you’re constantly reacting to problems, your budget will always feel too tight. But when you invest in proactive, well-scoped support, you get predictability—and that’s where value really shows up.” - Koert Council, cofounder of Kosh Solutions
Below are some of the primary drivers of pricing differentiation:
Cost Driver | What It Means |
Level of Support | Are we backing up internal IT staff, or managing all tech support? |
Infrastructure Size | Number of users, locations, servers, and connected systems |
Risk Tolerance & Compliance | Cities with higher uptime or cybersecurity needs may invest more |
24/7 vs. Business Hours | Full round-the-clock support costs more—but may be mission-critical |
Hardware Included | Some municipalities use our Hardware as a Service (HaaS) program to rent equipment through the contract |
What’s Actually Included in Managed Services for a City?
Here’s what most of our municipal clients get as part of their monthly agreement:
Helpdesk (8am–5pm M–F) + after-hours support
Patching, endpoint protection, and 24/7 network monitoring
EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)
Software support and update management
Firewall deployment, monitoring, and configuration
Compliance & regulatory support (HIPAA, CJIS, etc.)
vCIO-level planning (budgeting, roadmaps, vendor coordination)
Option to lease hardware through Kosh (routers, switches, servers)
Fixed price projects
The High Cost of Underinvestment
Many cities we’ve worked with came to us after a breach or significant outage. In most cases, they were under-protected—either lacking the right tools or the staff to manage them.
Cybersecurity isn’t a “nice to have” anymore. It’s infrastructure. And just like roads and utilities, if it’s neglected, it breaks.
A good IT partnership should prevent problems, not just react to them.
What’s a “Healthy” Municipal IT Investment?
Smaller towns like Aztec, Truth or Consequences, and Ruidoso have different IT needs than mid-sized communities with 10,000+ residents, such as Artesia and Portales. Larger cities like Hobbs, Clovis, Farmington, and Roswell require different support structures than metro areas like Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, or Las Cruces.
That’s why we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all IT. But we do believe every New Mexico municipality deserves:
A predictable, transparent tech budget
Clear roles (what your internal staff handles vs. what we do)
A long-term roadmap—not just a patchwork of urgent fixes
A partner who understands compliance, security, and local needs
As a rule of thumb, for smaller towns, if you’re spending less than $1.50 per citizen and expecting enterprise-level support, that gap will show up eventually—in downtime, in risk, or in retention problems.
If you’re spending over $8 per citizen, you should be getting top-tier support, hardware included, and full accountability from your provider.
Of course, pricing changes as the population increases, so this is more for the municipalities between 2,000 and 30,000 people.
Bottom Line: It’s Not About the Tech—It’s About the Trust
Public Municipal IT is different than corporate technology. It isn’t just about software and servers. It’s about uptime for public safety, secure access to services, and the peace of mind that your systems won’t fail when your community needs them most.
We’ve helped New Mexico cities modernize, stabilize, and protect their systems—without breaking the budget or losing control.
If you’re ready for a conversation (not a sales pitch), we’d love to share what we’ve learned providing Managed IT Services to New Mexico cities, towns, villages, and counties since 2005.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this communication is intended for limited use for informational purposes only. It is not considered professional advice, and instead, is general information that may or may not apply to specific situations. Each case is unique and should be evaluated on its own by a professional qualified to provide advice specifically intended to protect your individual situation. Kosh is not liable for improper use of this information.