The City of Whitehorse will spend nearly $2.5 million on computers and information technology over the next four years, city budget figures show.

In his budget speech Monday evening, Mayor Ernie Bourassa said the city will be investing the money to maintain efficiency and improve online services for the public.

'To do this, the city ... will be allocating approximately $500,000 per year over the next four years (for new computers),' Bourassa said.

In addition to money for new computers, web development will also be receiving funding, he added.

'...(W)eb development is needed to meet increasing demand from citizens for city services to be available on the Internet ... (and) 2006 and beyond will see the continuation of city web services including a community portal' as suggested by the community and council.

'There is also funding for a new elections software product to publicly tabulate and display election results for the October 2006 election,' Bourassa said during his speech.

According to city budget figures, council plans to allocate $361,000 for new computer equipment in 2006, $530,000 in 2007, $584,000 in 2008 and $583,000 in 2009.

Budget figures also show that $39,000 a year, over the next four years, will be spent on web development, $30,000 in 2006 for elections software replacement and $185,000 over the next four years for information system development.

In an interview this morning, Mike Stevely, of the city's information systems department, said the money will enable the city to maintain and improve system delivery in Whitehorse.

'From our perspective, we're talking about everything from the keyboard, to the server to the Internet,' Stevely said.

The city has made great strides in information technology over the past decade, he noted.

'In 1990ish, we had zero computers. Today we have about 160 work stations; every employee has access (to computers),' he said.

Stevely said his department would also be developing a community portal to allow the various community associations in Whitehorse to have web space on the city's server.

Stevely said over the next few years, service delivery will improve to the point where a large number of services, such as paying for development permits and bill payments, will be available on the city web site.

'We're going to continue to evolve,' he said.

Aimed to be completed by next fall's municipal election, he added, the city would have elections software online to improve election results information with the public.

Currently, all municipal buildings, except for the transit department, which has a wireless connect, are connected to one another on a secure network connected through underground fibre wiring.

Council must still formally approve the proposed 2006 budget next month.