Centralized purchasing saves county tens of thousands

Newly hired manager making a big difference in Butler’s bottom line.

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By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer 11:27 PM Friday, July 22, 2011

HAMILTON — Butler County has saved nearly $650,000 on contracts for the next three years, a direct result of re-establishing and filling a central purchasing position.

And there’s potential to save even more taxpayer dollars before the year’s up, said Randy Quisenberry, the purchasing manager hired by the county commission early this year with a goal to save money through evaluating and renegotiating contracts.

“We could see an opportunity for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year,” he said, “but as I grow into central purchasing, more opportunities will become evident.”

The cash-strapped county has cut millions from its budget — through moves such as layoffs, pay cuts, attrition and furloughs — to balance it amid dwindling revenues and state cuts. Just three years ago, the annual budget was $94.7 million. The adopted 2011 budget is $79.2 million.

Commissioner Don Dixon pushed for a special project last year that looked at centralized purchasing, and Quisenberry assisted in that project. Because of his work on the special project, Dixon said Quisenberry has more than paid for his $68,500 salary and associated benefits “for the next 10 years.”

“Every contract needs to go through central purchasing,” Dixon said. “There’s huge savings and the county’s not taking advantage of those. It allows us to do it smarter, do it better, and at the end of the day it saves us a lot of money.”

Quisenberry is only the second purchasing manager the city has employed; he was hired more than a dozen years after the last manager left in April 1998. Dick Law, who last held the job for an 11-year tenure beginning in 1987, estimates he saved a collective $2 million by consolidating a number of contracts, including office supplies and the food purchases being made by the county jail, juvenile detention center and care facility.

Law also consolidated the number of contracts for the same service, which reduced the work load to process payments. Law said when he left it cost $64 to pay a purchase order. Quisenberry — who’s also had to reduce the number of contracts for the same service — said that partially through inflation, the cost to process a single purchase order is now about $80.

“It was needed,” Law said of his job, which ironically wasn’t filled to save money, said state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, who served on the commission in 1998.

Law — nor anyone else — wouldn’t “even venture a guess” on how much in taxpayer dollars was wasted by the higher amounts paid out between 1998 and early 2011 on contracts, purchases and services.

But Quisenberry said even though there wasn’t a point person, that doesn’t mean county officials didn’t attempt to get a low price for services. “When an individual is dedicated to a task, however, there’s more of a focus to stay on task,” he said.

Quisenberry is now looking how to save the taxpayers more by evaluating several high-dollar contracts, including the county’s heating and air conditioning and telephone contracts. There are a few millions of dollars worth of product and service contracts under the county commission’s authority that he feels can be lowered. But the potential savings are yet to be determined, he said.

“We value our relationships with our providers, but we want to make sure that the relationship is benefiting the citizens of Butler County and maximize the total of the contracts,” Quisenberry said.

Quisenberry currently manages only commission-controlled offices and general fund contracts. However, Gov. John Kasich’s biennium budget bill approved last month permits the county to establish various centralized services, including purchasing, across all elected offices.

According to the budget bill, the commission can establish a centralized service and provide a written notice to the other county officeholders of the intent, rationale and impact.

“The more we can centralize, the more we can combine our orders, the bigger the orders ... the savings, literally, could be millions of dollars,” Dixon said.

Since Quisenberry started, Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said many offices have used him as “a resource,” something she had done with Law when she was the county Clerk of Courts.

“For me, even though he didn’t control my purchasing, just to have that central depository of information was very helpful,” she said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or mpitman@coxohio.com. Follow at twitter.com/mdpitman.

How much  are we saving?

Contracts that were renegotiated and the savings for the county:

ThyssenKrupp: Elevator and escalator service, annual savings of $45,000*

ProSource: Copier lease buyout, average annual savings of $80,000*

Valley Janitorial: Janitorial services, estimated annual savings of $126,000**

RMR Services: Mowing service at landfill, 2011 savings of $6,600

*For the next three years  **For the next two years  Source: Butler County purchasing office

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