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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - City councillors said "no" to new computers next year for city staffers during preliminary budget discussions Tuesday night, leaving at least one member of administration shaking his head.

At the time of the decision, it was difficult to determine how much money, if any, the move will save said Carl Bird, director of corporate services, as leaving staff with old computers could result in higher maintenance costs.

"Right now (there are) no net savings," he said.

Bird later said, the next night, roughly $20,000 would be saved by not purchasing the computers, but he could not estimate how much it would cost to maintain the now four-year-old machines.

The move narrowly passed, and won't be cemented until Monday's council meeting, with members of council and administration each arguing over how often the city needs to buy new computers.

Before the move, the city's "evergreening" cycle of replacing old technology with new was the industry standard of three years. With the move it will go to every four years.

"So we're not buying any computers next year," said Bird.

He added some staffers, whose computers were approaching the three-year mark, were already complaining of longer log-in and file saving times.

Councillor Kevin Kennedy was responsible for putting the suggestion forward, saying the city shouldn't buy into the trend of ever-escalating product advancement.

"As council we have to make a political judgement," he said. "I think that industry is wrong and I don't think (the standard) is one we as a city can afford," he said, referring to the common practice of keeping new computer purchasing on a three-year cycle.

"We're not going to know if a four-year cycle is going to work until we try it," said Coun. Paul Falvo.

"I suspect the three-year standard is set by people who sell computers," he added.

Some councillors, however, including Coun. Lydia Bardak and Coun. Bob Brooks, agreed with administration and remained unconvinced it would save the city money.

"If everybody keeps up with the three-year update (cycle), everybody will be able to keep up with everybody else," said Brooks.

"I'm a little reluctant to try and reinvent the wheel," added Coun. Dave McCann.

But even if cost-savings remained unclear, said Kennedy, the move would at least lessen the amount of computers going to the landfill every year.

"The environment has much higher savings than zero."