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Board preliminarily approves Purchasing budget as postage costs and green‑supply KPIs draw attention
Summary
The Linn County Board preliminarily approved Purchasing's FY‑27 appropriations of $402,812 after the purchasing director outlined postage pressures, a net‑zero mailroom billing approach and a KPI to boost green office supply purchases to 60%.
The Board of Supervisors preliminarily approved Purchasing's FY‑27 appropriations of $402,812 and revenues of $1,000 after Purchasing director Bridal (named in the transcript) reviewed the mailroom, postage pressures and department KPIs.
Bridal said the mail room operates on a net‑zero basis because postage is billed back to departments, but recent changes — including outside agencies stopping use of county mail services — created a $159,000 carryover buffer that helped the department absorb last year's postage spike. Bridal told the board that the U.S. Postal Service's ongoing rate changes and higher departmental mailings make postage a continuing pressure and that the mailroom requested an additional $75,000 to handle projected increases.
Bridal described the Purchasing office's staffing and small capital needs and said vehicle transfers and resale practices have produced efficiencies and better stewardship of county assets. Several supervisors praised Bridal's leadership and said the department has helped other counties and local governments on procurement matters.
On sustainability metrics, Bridal described a KPI to increase the percentage of 'green' office supply purchases under the Office Depot contract: 2024 actual 60%, 2025 actual 54%, projected 2026 56% and FY‑27 goal 60%. She noted that Amazon purchases are currently not tracked in the green‑product totals, which can affect the reported percentages.
After discussion and comments, Speaker 4 moved to preliminarily approve Purchasing's FY‑27 appropriations of $402,812; the board approved the motion by voice vote. The transcript records the approval but does not include a roll‑call tally.
The purchase budget will go through the usual subsequent steps toward final adoption; staff said they will continue to monitor postage use and department bill‑backs and adjust as final budgets are adopted.
