By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo,NY – Hundreds of Erie County employees are getting disconnected from their cell phones. Erie County Executive Chris Collins Tuesday announced a 36 percent cut in cell phone use. But some of the projected savings is being questioned.
271 county employees lost their cell phones. There were previously 758 in use. Collins said that will save the county about $143,000 a year. Most of the phones were taken from the social services and health departments.
The executive's office also gave up nine of its eleven county issued phones, including those of the county executive and his deputy executive. Collins said now only those who truly need a cell phone have one.
About a third of the savings, however, comes from actually giving cell phones to workers who didn't have them before.
The phones will replace pagers that some workers received extra pay for carrying. But, according to a union official, eliminating the so-called "on-call pay" violates their contract. Reportedly, they will file charges.
County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz said that would put a big dent in projected savings. He is also not sure the overall savings add up. Collins said wireless costs are about $170,000 higher than Poloncarz found in his earlier audit. He said they need to find out why.
Poloncarz said, ultimately, the savings might not justify the extra manpower needed to go over every bill with a fine tooth comb. Still, he is glad Collins is acting on the recommendations made to the previous administration in the comptroller's 2006 audit.
Collins said they have also reduced the number of take home vehicles by 20 percent and cut mileage reimbursements for non-union employees.
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