A readable secondary is a nice-to-have for reporting purposes, but isn't strictly necessary. I don't think the load generated by reporting will have much impact on production since reports are only generated quarterly and we don't have a high number of transactions. We've gotten away with only having a single instance running everything for years, and while I want to get away from that configuration I do recognize that they haven't had any serious problems. Yet.

it sounds like, due to the small scale of our operations, mirroring may be the way to go. It would keep the costs down and be more manageable for us. I'll also explore the possibility of getting someone more experienced in to help with the design and set up.

Thanks!