9:15am | As the city of Long Beach’s budget woes continue to loom, elected officials are searching for areas from which fat could potentially be trimmed, and employee cell phones and city vehicles are currently under the spotlight.
The Long Beach City Council last week voted unanimously to direct the city manager to analyze the city’s policies on cell phones and city fleet vehicles used by staffers and administrators at City Hall.
The resolution was placed on the agenda and cosponsored by Councilman Patrick O’Donnell and Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske “as a means to find potential efficiencies in this tough fiscal environment,” according to a March 8 staff report.
“A review of the city’s policies, contracts and practices associated with the provision and use of cell phones and the city vehicle fleet is prudent,” the report continues.
City Hall has multiple cellular phone service providers and plans, and O’Donnell believes this could be driving up the cost. He suggested that the city consider using a single service provider, which could yield a significant savings via pro-rated group plans.
Schipske said she hopes to eventually see the city audit the cell phone plans to catch any potential overcharges or unnecessary fees.
While the city’s official policies regarding phones and city cars will be reviewed, no mention was made of any potential review of employee usage of phones or cars to ensure such privileges are not being abused at taxpayers’ expense.
Earlier this year, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed county department chiefs to review their respective cell phone and data card use following an audit of the Department of Child and Family Services identified $514,000 wasted on phones and devices that were never used or used for what was deemed “questionable” purposes, such as calling other countries.
At the state level, Gov. Jerry Brown a few days into his taking office in january cracked down on wasteful spending by ordering that half of the 96,000 cell phones issued to state employees be turned in and shut off, yielding an annual savings of $20 million.