Sunday, September 25, 2011

$40 K Cell Phone Bill

From the Wausau Daily Herald.

The city of Wausau spends thousands of dollars each month on more than 100 cellphones for its employees, with different departments using several different plans and types of phones.

 The city spent at least $40,000 on cellular service last year and provided at least 126 phones to employees and elected officials, according to a Wausau Daily Herald analysis of data obtained under Wisconsin open records law. The City/County Information Technology Commission did not respond to the Daily Herald's open-records request, so its cellular bill remains unknown.

The biggest individual bill -- $14,500 in 2010 -- went to an account that covers the Wausau Water Works, Engineering, Public Works, Finance and other departments, with monthly charges paid by each department. The Police Department spent $11,715 in 2010 for 39 phones. Mayor Jim Tipple's cellphone cost $214 in 2010, an average of about $18 per month. The majority of the phones are assigned to individual employees, but others are shared by multiple employees, including 14 assigned to Police Department squad cars driven by different officers.

 So what did city employee's do before cell phones? 


Why can't the mayor use his own cell phone? 


If they need phones, why not buy them a Tracfone?

The real question is, who's paying for all this? 


Bend over and pay your taxes.

1 comment:

Dad29 said...

Water Works, Engineering, Public Works and the cop-shop and fire department I can see. Efficient, although Motorola radios prolly were just as useful.