by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Though she’s been City Council president for just a little more than a week, Elaine Brown is moving forward with legislation that would cut taxpayer costs and increase Council accountability when it comes to cell phones.
After speaking with Council auditors, Brown said it may be time to update the policy by which Council members use and pay for their cell phones.
“I just think it might be time to standardize the way we handle it,” she said. “The thing is, we all differ on our plans and how we pay.
“There’s a better way to go about it, one that can save the taxpayers a lot of money.”
Auditor Richard Wallace explained further.
“If a City Council member chooses to use a City cell phone, what they usually do is go through their monthly statements and pay, out of pocket, the percentage made up of personal calls,” he said.
All other calls, said Wallace, are a taxpayer expense, regardless of their duration or frequency.
That policy differs from the one used by Mayor John Peyton and his staff.
“It’s a bit different,” said Wallace. “Basically what happens is everyone from their office who needs a cell phone for business-related purposes is given a specific plan. They can make personal calls but they also have to pay for any overages, whether business-related or otherwise.”
Wallace said the Council’s collective cell phone bill was about $25,000 last year. Under a plan similar to Peyton’s, the taxpayers would have had to pay less than half of that.
“Think of it this way,” he said. “If each Council member was given a $50-a-month plan, it would have cost $11,400 for the year.
“It’s obviously a pretty big difference in price and that’s assuming each of them even wants a City cell phone. They aren’t even required to.”
City Council member Sharon Copeland, who uses her own cell phone, said Brown’s plan may hold merit.
“It’s an interesting idea,” she said. “I’m not sure how that will tie into Florida’s broad public records laws, but I think it’s worth looking at.
“My cell phone bill was over $500 last month because I pay out my own pocket, but I also don’t have to let anyone look at my statement to see who I’m calling.”
While no legislation has been introduced, Brown and Wallace said the newly-formed Government Performance, Audit, Technology and Education Committee will further investigate the impact of a policy change.
“The good thing about what’s being talked about,” said Wallace, “is that it removes a lot of the guesswork.”