Brennan completes review of county provided mobile phones
75 devices canceled or suspended
(Binghamton, N.Y.) Broome County Executive Patrick Brennan is again reviewing employee expenses and equipment; this time it’s mobile telephones and other mobile communication devices. As with the take home vehicles, Brennan and the two Deputy Executives turned in their county cell phones. Brennan then assigned Deputy County Executive Mike Lynch to identify mobile communication devices and services that can be eliminated.
“As a result of this study, we found that Broome County had 388 mobile devices costing upwards of $150,000 per year. (For the period August 2010 through July 2011, the 12 month actual cost was $158,922.66.) Of those 388 devices, 39 were suspended and 36 were canceled,” said Brennan.
Phones canceled by department: County Executive 3, District Attorney 1, Public Works administration 2, Elections 1, Health 2, IT 6, Office for Aging 1, Probation 2, Real Property 1, Risk & Insurance 1, Security 4, Social Services 9, BC Transit 1, Veterans 1, Willow Point Nursing Home 1. Total: 36.
Phones suspended by department: IT 2, Elections 3, Emergency Services 3; Highways 31. Total: 39. Note suspended phones can be activated through the provider’s web site in a matter of seconds.
The 39 devices were suspended rather than canceled so that can be reactivated seasonally or as required. For example, the Board of Elections can activate their mobile phones for several weeks around election time and then turn them off for the rest of the year. The 31 mobile devices in the highway department have to be activated for the snow removal season but can be suspended in the summer. Thirty of those 31 devices are gps tracking devices for the snow plow and salt trucks and the other one is the device that tracks the other thirty devices. Two of the devices were assigned to specialized vehicles at Emergency Service that only get used a few times per year.
Brennan said, “Since I took office in April, I have been searching for ways to eliminate waste and trim expenses. With mobile phones, I wanted to see how many were out there and who is using them and for what purpose.”
When the study began, more than 40 department heads and division heads had county provided mobile communication devices. In addition, many other county employees had county supplied phones. In June, County Executive Brennan ordered an evaluation of the number of county provided devices, the cost of each, and the job duties of the person who has the phone. In addition, many county provided devices had premium services such as internet and email. Those premium services were also evaluated in connection with each employee’s job duties.
Brennan said, “we are spending a lot of money on wireless devices and mobile connectivity to the internet and email and I just want to make sure that it is justified when compared with the job duties of the employee to whom the device is assigned.
“A lot of county business is conducted remotely and I don’t want to make any employee any less efficient, but I do want to make sure that the spending is justified,” said Brennan.
This effort will result in a savings of more than $15,000 per year or about ten percent of our annual expenditure for mobile communication devices.
During the process, the county discovered $1,430.82 in unnecessary charges. The county then contacted the providers and disputed those charges. As a result, the county will receive $1,430.82 in one time credits resulting from disputing those charges.
Posted: 8/17/2011 8:53 am
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