Can you hear us now? Hello. Helloooo! Can you hear us NOW?
We?re taxpayers calling about the bill we pay for government cell phones, and we?re leaving a voice mail for Baltimore City: Tell us how much we?re paying. Now, please. Thank you.
Five counties in The Baltimore Examiner area complied in relatively timely fashion to requests for government cell phone costs. The state of Maryland is attempting to comply to a recent request.
However, the city failed after almost six months to provide the public with something the public has an absolute right to know.
Those are our phones. All those calls are supposed to be made on our behalf for our benefit. We pay the bills.
We also have a right to demand that public servants spending our money diligently work to make sure we are getting the best deal.
Considering that government buys goods and services in such huge quantities, we the people should be getting the best deal in the world. Too often, we are not.
For while many public officials think of our tax money as theirs, they don?t treat it with the detailed care and thrift of personal finance. If they are profligate and irresponsible, all they have to do is raise taxes. If we don?t feel like paying, they can add penalties and interest, confiscate our homes and businesses and, ultimately, put us in prison.
This cell phone bill thing might not seem like all that big a deal in the hemorrhaging billions governments at all levels waste. But it?s worth checking. And it should be easy to check.
The counties of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard report paying about $125,000 a month in cell phone bills.
Sure, that is a big one, but per phone on average it ranges from $33 a month in Anne Arundel to $43 in Carroll.
Whether such big customers are getting the best rate on some kind of gargantuan minutes plan is worthy of further analysis.
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman ordered a cell phone review last month. Other local governments should do so at least annually and provide results for residents. It also should include a review of who has them, why some individual bills get up to almost $700 a month, spot-checking numbers called and ensuring no phones have been lost or stolen.
This is standard business practice, for those businesses providing cell phones to employees. Most private businesses now ask employees to use their personal cell phones and then reimburse ? within a cap ? only for scrupulously documented business calls.
Such a system could work for most government employees and could save taxpayers money.
Of course, we can?t even get a grip on what the savings would be for Baltimore?s beleaguered taxpayers because city officials are hiding the bills from the public.
Our message is not getting through: Those are our phones. Officials are paying the bills with our money. We want to know who?s calling and how much it?s costing us.
If everybody calls Mayor Sheila Dixon now, maybe she will hear us.
