Cincinnati Councilman Pat DeWine thought he was being optimistic when he said the city could cut its cell phone bills by 25 percent.

PHONE SAVINGS

The city of Cincinnati will save $109,109 on its phone bills, including:    • 166 cell phones: $38,684     • Rate reductions: $38,499     • 121 desk phones: $19,334     • 195 pagers: $9,595     • Yellow pages ads: $2,997

        But Acting City Manager Tim Riordan reported Wednesday that the city had managed to find 166 cell phones, 195 pagers and 121 telephone lines that could be cut without sacrificing city services.

        The bottom line: a $109,109 savings to the taxpayer — just over 25 percent.

        The biggest problem wasn't city workers abusing their cell phones. Just the opposite.

        “The big thing was people who were not using their cell phones at all,” Mr. DeWine said.

        “There's a minimum fee you're paying every month,” he said. “And for that, I'd rather have them put 50 cents into a pay phone.”

        Mr. Riordan said the city found other ways to save on its phone bill. The city cut $2,997 in Yellow Pages advertising and negotiated a rate that will save $12,624 a year.

        Phones sitting on empty desks were eliminated. Some city workers agreed to share phones. And employees with both a pager or a cell phone had to give up one or the other.

        The city began looking at its $434,955 cell-phone bill in December, when Mr. DeWine discovered that the city had 1,420 cell phones — about one for every four city employees.

        Mr. DeWine said the phones are proof that there's plenty of “low hanging fruit” to be picked off the city's budget.

        His next project: city employees who take city cars home.

       Source: Cincinnati Department of General Services

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