It's not just the software. They're controlling these systems via radios that operate on the same frequencies as other radios in use. It's (at this point) clumsy and error prone. To be fair, they probably saved the tax payers a lot of money by using this system for as long as they have.

> To be fair, they probably saved the tax payers a lot of money by using this system for as long as they have.

Indeed. The major annoyance I see is the radios interfering with each other. The centralized control architecture is also something I'd like to change. Each building does not require anything much smarter than an Arduino to be completely standalone and, if you want to be fancy, an RPi to send collected data to a centralized location.

Another viable approach could be to setup Amiga emulators on old/discarded PCs and repurpose the existing software using wired instead of wireless connections.

The 2M number is probably a major overhaul of every part of the system. Utility bills alone will probably more than cover the difference.

I suggested a US$ 200 PC because many of those have no moving parts and more storage space than any Amiga ever dreamed of. They should be able to easily last 30 years or more.