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IT director outlines telecom audit claiming roughly $22,000 annual savings if county centralizes services
Summary
Scott Hill, Benton County IT director, told the commission an internal telecom overhaul could cut annual telecom costs from about $41,892 to substantially less, with first-year net savings of about $18,002.54 and larger ongoing savings thereafter; the mayor and staff said a resolution may come next month.
Scott Hill, identified in the meeting as Benton County's IT director, presented an internal review of the county's telecom and telephone contracts and told commissioners the county could reduce annual telecom costs by centralizing services.
Hill said the county currently pays "close to $41,892 a year for telecom services" and that, after a one-time setup cost of about $4,200, the county would save roughly $18,002.54 in the first year and about $22,454 in subsequent years if the county consolidated telephone services and hosted phone servers in the courthouse.
Hill described a mixed-provider approach in his plan: "it's not just 1 company'... we're also getting TDC, Spectrum, and we're also still gonna keep a NIST for certain phone lines," and he said the plan would use TEC for an internet link while spreading services across vendors to avoid a single monopoly.
Mayor Mark Ward and others indicated the mayor would likely bring a resolution on the proposal to the commission for consideration in the next month.
Why it matters: Hill framed the plan as a recurring annual savings opportunity that could free county dollars for other priorities, noting the commission could realize multi-year savings after the modest startup cost.
Limitations and next steps: Commissioners expressed interest in seeing the proposal on paper and studying competitive impacts. Commissioner King asked for a written plan and community consideration; no binding authorization was given during the meeting, and Hill said he sought permission to develop the project further and pursue a resolution for future consideration.
Ending: The commission did not adopt a final authorization; at one point an attendee said, "the mayor and Scott will probably be presenting a resolution to us to consider that in the next month," indicating staff follow-up was expected.
