February 24, 2003  

County to Save $500,000 With Consolidated Copier Program
 

Poughkeepsie… County Executive William R. Steinhaus has announced the selection of IKON Office Solutions of Hopewell Junction as the copy machine provider for the County of Dutchess. Under this agreement, IKON Office Solutions will provide one hundred digital copiers for County operations, including all maintenance, service, training, non-paper supplies and networking. This new agreement will save the County approximately $500,000 over three years, a 27% savings.

County Executive Steinhaus applauded this effort, saying, “It is easy to navigate through the good times, however, getting through tough times is a true test of our leadership and management abilities. It is through spending restraint that we will weather this storm. Under the outstanding leadership of Director Donald Miller, our Division of Central Services continues to implement and manage new programs that increase productivity and save taxpayer dollars by being aggressive in problem solving and visionary for the future.”

This consolidation is the final part of a Copier Cost Reduction Program initiated by County Executive Steinhaus. Copiers had previously been obtained individually, as needed, without any centralized coordination. Mr. Miller and his staff were charged with coordinating a countywide program to consolidate all copier installations, service and contracts in an effort to “right-size” the equipment, to take advantage of the collective volumes of all machines and to reduce costs. The total cost of all coping equipment and supplies has been reduced by 52% since 1993.

Miller stated, “The successful completion of this project was made possible because of the overwhelming support and confidence of the administration and my fellow department heads.”

As one example, the Department of Social Services will decrease their costs by 25% over the next three years. Robert Allers, Commissioner of Social Services said, “I was impressed by the effort put forth by the Division of Central Services in moving this project along. They contacted every department to insure that all needs were met, coordinated the close-outs of existing contracts, managed the new and old vendors and handled every aspect of the project.”

Part of the savings will be realized because of the networking capability of the new digital machines, which enables computer workstations to route work directly to the copier, which is 350% cheaper per sheet, decreasing the amount of computer paper used by 20%. This savings will improve the County’s goal of paper and cost reduction while we move to more e-Government processes.

According to the lease agreement, members of the Dutchess County Interagency Purchasing Cooperative and the Hudson Valley Municipal Purchasing Group are also eligible for these contract prices.

County Executive Steinhaus added, “This program is another example of efforts made throughout county government to provide the best services possible with the least cost impact to the taxpayer.”

 

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