A couple of months ago during discussions of how MCC could reduce expenditures in the face of budget reductions, President Mary Kirk said one option to consider was cutting out one of the college-owned cell phones. In this age of twittering, texting, cell phones, and smart phones (BlackBerries) that provide Internet access and e-mail, local government agencies were asked for information about their use and costs for this technology.
Of the five towns and three county governmental entities, only the town of Star does not provide employees with tax-payer funded cell phones.
Montgomery County Schools provides the largest number of employees with mobile phones, a total of 115, of which 26 are smart phones. One smart phone is assigned to the superintendent. Principals at all 12 of the public schools, as well as six assistant principals have either cells or smart phones, and the West Montgomery athletic director has a school cell phone.
Six administrators in the curriculum department have phones. The director and pre-k coordinator in the exceptional children department have phones. Five phones are assigned in the maintenance department, six in transportation, 10 in student support services including social workers and nurses, three in technology, and one each in human resources, public information and testing. In addition, all 60 buses have phones assigned. One phone is also assigned to the child nutrition director position which is currently vacant.
Public Information Officer Lindsay Whitley stated, “Employees who receive school mobile phones are ones who are constantly on the move from one place to another, and at times need to be reached while in transit or away from the office.” Principals were recently asked about how their smart phones were working. Whitley provided two responses from that discussion: “We can finally be in a meeting and still have contact with our schools,” and “If you have to be away from the building, you can still communicate effectively with your staff and they can communicate with you.”
In the last fiscal year, 2007-08, the schools paid $39,322 for mobile phone costs; however, that has been reduced drastically this year. Late in 2007, the schools completed the process to participate in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) e-rate program that allows schools and libraries to obtain affordable telecommunication and Internet access. E-rate will pay approximately 82 percent of the smart phone service costs, and the smart phones were purchased with a rebate at no cost to the schools.
This fiscal year, Whitley stated, MCS will pay approximately $7,569 total cost for cell and smart phone use, with the rest covered by the e-rate program.
Asked about policies covering school-owned phones, Whitley said MCS does not have a formal policy covering phone use: “However, employees understand the primary purpose of the phones is to conduct official school business. All MCS mobile phones and smart phones use the same block of minutes. Use of the phones is monitored to ensure our district stays within the minute allotment,” he stated.
Montgomery County Government provides 50 employee mobile phones, 12 of which are smart phones. Four smart phones are assigned to the administrative department, for the county manager, financial officer, recreation director and information technology director. The water department is assigned eight cells and two smart phones; inspections two cell phones; emergency management one cell and two smart phones; rescue, maintenance, housekeeping and planning have one cell phone each; health department six cell and three smart phones, DSS 16 cells, and animal control one of each.
Cost to the county last fiscal year was $36,280.
The county has a detailed written policy covering use of county-owned phones, which are assigned to employees who spend a good amount of their work day out of the office. Others are assigned to staff who are on call to cover emergencies on a 24/7 basis.
“We have excellent documentation on the phones, usage and policies in place for internal controls,” said Manager Lance Metzler. “Basically we are on a government plan with Alltel. They give us a certain amount of shared minutes to utilize. If anyone goes over their allotted minutes and have any personal use which triggers this, then they are required to reimburse the county.”
Montgomery Community College has only three mobile phones, one of which is a smart phone assigned to the president. One cell phone is shared by administrators who take turns covering Saturday activities on campus and the other is shared by employees in the Information Technology department.
Total cost for equipment and line charges last fiscal year was $2,952.
The college has a written employee policy regarding use of college equipment and property. “College phone invoices are reviewed for accuracy and unusual activity by the accounts payable technician each month,” stated Karen Jarrett, vice president of administrative services.
Candor provides four cell phones for department heads. Cost in the first eight months of this year was $2,437. “Phone bills are reviewed before payment for over usage or misusage. Users are notified if usage is over allowable minutes but we have not had any issues with misusage,” Clerk Tammy Kellis stated.
Biscoe provides cell phones to its 20 full-time employees and one for the mayor. The Alltel plan, which also allows some texting, cost $18,317 last fiscal year.
“Town employees are basically considered on call 24/7 in case of emergencies and cell phone is how staff is contacted in case of need,” explained Clerk Lisa Cagle. “We went to using cell phones instead of pagers to have a more streamlined, efficient and effective way to communicate and assist our citizens. It eliminates unnecessary down time traveling to and from the office to make calls, cuts fuel costs and helps departments work together more efficiently.”
Department heads review monthly bills and discrepancies are brought to the employee.
Mt. Gilead has five cell phones assigned to public works employees on call 24/7. The phones were purchased as part of a package that allots specific minutes and are to be used for work calls only. The town’s written policy states that overage minutes if accrued are the responsibility of the employee, with costs deducted from paychecks.
Cost to the town last fiscal year was $4,648.
Troy owns 10 cell phones. One is assigned to the fire chief. The four phones assigned to the police department include one each for the chief and lieutenant and one each rotated among sergeants and patrol officers on duty.
The public works department has five phones, one for the director, one for the treatment plant operator, and one each to the superintendent, back-up operator in charge at the treatment plant and one rotated among emergency on-call staff.
In most cases, no personal calls are allowed; however, four of the public works employees have a $10 per month payroll deduction for access to personal calls.
“We haven’t adopted a written use policy but we stay on top of it,” said Manager Greg Zephir. “Any overages or text messages have to be paid by the employee in addition to the $10 deduction. It has happened.”
Cost to the town last fiscal year was $5,864 which includes a $50 monthly stipend to the manager for business use of his personal cell phone.
