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The Des Moines City Council last week authorized the city’s Information Technology department to spend as much as $540,000 annually to replace desktop and laptop computers.

Rich Jahnke, acting infrastructure manager in the IT department, said the city hopes to buy about 600 computers in 2008 and about 400 next year. “We have moved from a three-year replacement plan to a four-year plan,” he said. “We haven’t replaced any for two years, and we need to catch up.”

The replacement program begins with $275,000 from the 2007-2008 operating budget and $450,000 from the 2007-2013 capital improvements budget. The city owns about 1,600 desktop and laptop computers.

The city last summer ended a contract with L3 Communications Government Services Inc. that involved computer replacement and support. “That didn’t work out very well,” Jahnke said.