When Hinds County District 4 Supervisor Phil Fisher asked for a count of employees' desktop printers, fax machines and copiers, something else turned up.
The county's administrator and purchasing department found $35,000 of stockpiled toner and printer ink, even though the county's contract for master copying machines provides it.
"It had been bought and just squirreled away," said Fisher, who requested an audit of the desktop machinery in the fall. "They've been sticking it in closets for years, and nobody's said anything. It's absurd for taxpayers to be paying for this."
County Administrator Carmen Davis and several supervisors say the surplus of toner and ink is the result not of overordering but of the county's 2008 conversion to an electronic-based system of scanning instead of copying, and emailing rather than faxing.
"This is the expected result of when we changed to a new system," said Supervisors' President Robert Graham of District 1.
"It's like meat in the refrigerator. It doesn't mean it wasn't going to be eaten, but you got something better."
The county will sell the toner and ink.
The discovery of the surplus comes at a time when the county has been borrowing from bond and 911 emergency operations funds to pay its monthly bills while it waits for tax revenues to flow in.
Fisher told board members he was concerned some county employees needlessly had desktop printers, fax machines and copiers. Some of those likely could use common equipment in their work area, he said.
The audit was performed under the direction of Davis and purchasing head Timothy Lewis.
"We've gone to departments and have conducted an evaluation, and we've relinquished some desktop printers," Davis said.
But for security reasons, such as with some employees of courts and the district attorney's office, some desktop equipment is necessary, she said. "You have to be guarded with your information, and you don't want that going to common printers," Davis said.
She said about 22 printers and five fax machines were found unnecessary in November, about 10 percent of those in use. The assessment is ongoing, she said.
"Some of that happened," Davis said of ink and toner ordered outside the master copier contract. "The whole point of that contract was to reduce the ink and toner cartridge use."
Since 2008, she said, there's been a 55 percent reduction in the county's copying, printing and faxing expenses. "We've cut our costs down substantially," she said. That county expense was $59,000 for fiscal 2010, she said.
The assessment showed some departments do share copiers, she said. The continuing assessment could mean retiring more equipment, she said.
Madison County also has made strides to go electronic. County Administrator Hardy Crunk said seven years ago, the administrative department and tax collector began using a networked central copy machine that also serves as the fax machine and scanner.
Most other departments soon followed suit, Crunk said. "The only individual fax machines are in human resources and payroll to keep federally protected employment information confidential," he said.
Hinds County District 3 Supervisor Peggy Hobson Calhoun wants to find out how much of the ink and toner was purchased before and after the conversion.
"If it was after the conversion, it's a lack of monitoring and management of the employees," she said. "If these things were ordered prior to that, you could make some justification for having it."
About 43 percent of the surplus ink on hand was purchased prior to the conversion, Davis said.
Money spent after the conversion could have been used more wisely, Calhoun said. "I'm pleased we are taking measures to sell the supplies," she said.
Graham agrees the county should recoup the expense if possible. The county hopes small businesses will be interested.
"We're doing things more efficiently, and I'm glad that we have them to sell," Graham said.
Fisher believes the ink and toner never should have been allowed to accumulate.
"It's a small example of how the county refuses to do a performance audit and messes over the people who pay for government," Fisher said.
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