staffing a 28-computer network

Hi all.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>My boss and I are trying to create the first-ever technology plan for our organization, which is currently an NT4, 28-computer network: 3 macs and 25 pcs. The majority of our computers are Windows 98 Dells that we bought in '99; we've got a couple new Win2000s and a couple of old junkers that are running Win95. We've got ISPs that host our email & website and a router with a built-in firewall.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>Currently, I pretty much take care of it all at about 30% time, with a short call to the consultant maybe every 3-5 months. We're trying to figure out if what we're doing is right, if we should increase staff time allocated to systems administration, or if we should not have a systems administrator position and just allocate money for consultants' fees. (I read the Tech Soup article that recommended at least a parttime systems administrator for 10-15 computer networks and above.)<:LINEBREAK:>What do you all think? What has been your experience with staffing the IT department at a small non-profit?

What do you all think? What has been your experience with staffing the IT department at a small non-profit?
<:LINEBREAK:>What are your users like? Do they have a good technology background? Do they just need to be hooked up? Or do you need to show them how to use Word, Excel, etc. also?
<:LINEBREAK:>There are lots of ways to automate certain time-consuming tasks. I strongly recommend that you look into imaging machines (in case you have to QUICKLY restore a computer from scratch...look at Power Quest's Disk Image and Norton Ghost, although I think that the licensing is per tech for Disk Image Pro instead of per imagine on Norton Ghost), standardizing hardware, picking the right brands, etc.
<:LINEBREAK:>You'd be surprised how many users a good PC tech can support--IF she makes a few of the RIGHT decisions early on.
<:LINEBREAK:>Be sure to post here any cool advice/caveats you have on putting this all together in a non-profit environment.

First, I have looked and not yet found a ratio for IT staff to computers. We have 300 computers and three FT IT staff for our place. But we had only three staff when we had only 100 computer and I feel less overwhelmed now than I did then.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>I can not say enough about standardization. We purchase in bulk, all the year's computers are purchased at once, monitors in groups of 50-75. Using Norton Ghost we can quickly "re-educate" and misbehaving computers, we can easily scavange parts from one machine to another without worrying about drivers, we can move HD from one machine to another without many worries. We have been doing this for the past few years and now with few to no "non-standard" computers the number of tech calls is going way down.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>We also spent the money to keep our software licenses on current version so everyone runs the same OS and productivity software. This means when someone calls us for support I do not need to ask what version of either OS or office suite.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>R.Scott Hawkins<:LINEBREAK:>Catholic Charities Maine