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Cooperative Purchasing Saves Taxpayers
By Andrew Spano, Westchester County Executive
Local governments and school districts in Westchester now have a new resource to save taxpayers money.
We all pay school taxes, town, village or city taxes, some pay special district taxes for fire protection, and of course there are county taxes. When you put it all together, it’s one big tax bill. And all of us need to work in unison to reduce it.
This summer, the county government is launching an important
cooperative purchasing initiative designed to help our local governments and school districts get the best deal in the procurement process.
For years, local governments have benefited from some county contracts by “piggybacking” off county created contracts.
This means that the county creates a bid for a specific item or set of items and included in the wording of the bid, it is stated that our local governments must be permitted to order through this contract at the same prices, terms and conditions as set forth to Westchester County.
This in and of itself has been a savings since the legal requirement
of bidding has been done and so the local government can skip those administrative steps and simply purchase the items referencing the county contract.
While this has been helpful, we believe we can take this further by coordinating with local governments to establish mutual requirements, and the county will bid the item(s), make the award and publish the contract for those who participated. This will not only save money in administrative costs but since the requirements will be pooled together, it is expected that the prices will be lower due to economies of scale.
Indeed, a survey we sent this spring to 148 local governments,
school districts and fire districts, within our county showed great interest in an expanded shared procurement process and cooperative contracts. Respondents also said they want the ability to access estchester County contracts
online from a Web site, instead of by mail or email. In response, we have now set up a special section of our Web site. Purchasing agents are encouraged to sign on to www.westchestergov.com/bps , register and access the list of contracts available from the county’s Bureau of Purchasing and Supplies, a division of the Department of Finance. The site will be updated regularly, with the goal to having more and more contracts that may be used.
In order for local governments to purchase using county contracts, there needs to be an inter-municipal agreement.
Since so many local governments have already been using our contracts in the “piggyback” method, these agreements are, for the most part, already on file. However, moving into the establishment of true cooperative contracts will involve separate contractual agreements between the participating local government and the county.
And to make this program really work, we now have a “shared services coordinator,” Dianne Munro, who will assist our schools and local governments in researching and compiling
cooperative contracts. Dianne has been a professional buyer for government agencies for more than 17 years and therefore has extensive experience in this area. Immediately prior to coming on board at Westchester County, she was the Purchasing Agent for Ossining Public Schools. Dianne was also the president of the School Purchasing Association of the Hudson Valley, so she has extensive knowledge of the purchasing needs of school districts, as well as established relationships with her fellow purchasing professionals.
She will continue to reach out via telephone, emails and meetings with local governments and districts to explain the cooperative purchasing process, demonstrate our Web site and identify commonly purchased items in order to create cooperative contracts. The county will also provide training
and information to these agencies who wish to generate revenue through the sale of surplus property, another area in which the county has been very successful.
Here are just some of the examples of contracts we already have in place:
- Biodegradable Leaf Bags
- Cement Brick and Allied Materials
- Fire Extinguisher Refill and Service
- Fire Extinguishers
- Granular Chlorine100 Pound Drums
- Grass and Wild-Flower Seed
- Hazardous Waste Lamp Pick Up Service
- Indoor Recycling Containers
- Industrial Gases
- Lumber
- Polyethylene Liners
- Resuscitator Inhalator and Air Pack Refill & Service
- Sodium Hypochlorite
- Sodium Hypochlorite II
County government taxes account for less than 20 percent of a property owner’s bill. But our taxpayers really only look at the bottom line of their tax bill; they really don’t care which jurisdiction is levying the tax. It is incumbent on us to work together to reduce that bottom line. We believe this shared services initiative will be a cornerstone of that effort.