A three-way governmental partnership will share technology support services and maximize taxpayer dollars, officials say.

The city of Monroe, Monroe Local School District and the Butler County Educational Service Center are set sign a deal — pending Wednesday night’s anticipated approval by the ESC board — that will share a five-person information technology staff.

According to the 16-month contract, the ESC would share its director of technology, network administrator and application specialist and hire two full-time equivalent computer technicians. The school and city would pay ESC in five installments to help cover the nearly $470,000 cost of the positions. The school district’s share is $119,685; the city’s share is $127,090; and the ESC’s share is $223,888, according to the agreement.

The cost each entity would pay was determined by how much each had currently been spending for salary and benefits for their technology employees, said Phil Cagwin, interim superintendent at Monroe schools.

Cagwin said any cost savings won’t be realized until the consortium is opened up to more public entities after the first year.

“If we can get additional help without spending more money, that’s an attractive offer,” he said. “We will get 64 hours of service each week; we had been getting 40 hours a week.”

The agreement — which the school board approved Monday and City Council approved Tuesday — would take effect on Friday pending Wednesday’s outcome. It would then be reconsidered annually, and any contract would follow the school district and ESC’s fiscal years.

ESC Superintendent Jon Graft said this joint venture will allow each party to expand services and hire qualified professionals at no extra cost.

“This endeavor is quite uncommon as most governing agencies run independently of one another,” Graft said. “This consortium model is just another example of how working together benefits schools, communities and taxpayers. The silos between agencies continue to come down as districts, and now local city governments, are considering utilizing the BCESC to help forge new programs.”

The city and school district had a joint work session earlier this month, which Graft attended and presented at the meeting, to talk about sharing services in light of a tough economy, state budget cuts and the need to stretch taxpayer dollars. The meeting resulted in a promise to discuss other ways the city and school district can maximize services and tax dollars by sharing common services.

“I am really excited about moving forward in this area and look forward to exploring other opportunities with these partners,” said Monroe City Manager Bill Brock. “This is really just the beginning of what can be many areas we all can share in service delivery and save costs.”

Brock has been serving as the city’s IT manager since the previous manager resigned. He and his staff began researching options, which led to this partnership.

The cost of any individual hardware upgrades or software applications will be borne by the specific agency, unless it’s a software all agencies want to share and purchase in bulk, Cagwin said.

“This is the first step in uncovering other ways to work efficiently with the entities,” Cagwin said.

This is the second time this year a Butler County city and school district have partnered to share services.

In January, Middletown city and local school district officials agreed to share the City Building at One Donham Plaza. The school district will move into the fourth floor of the building this summer. The move is expected to save the district future and ongoing repair expenses at its offices on Girard Avenue, and allows for more space for the administration. The city will collect $65,000 a year in rent, which collection is delayed until July 2015.

Monroe schools technology director Tony Thornton resigned from his position Monday and is slated to become the technology director under the new agreement.

The computer technician positions have been posted on the Butler County ESC website, Graft said.