Internet phone system considered – Washington County Board to discuss replacing calling service

Traditional telephone lines in most Washington County government offices would be replaced later this year with connections to a less-costly, Internet-based service, under a proposal to be considered by the County Board at its June 8 meeting.

The switch to the new service would save the county more than $158,000 a year in telephone fees alone, said Michael McGinnis, director of Information Services.

By DON BEHM
[email protected]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/ozwash/may04/230612.asp

(Many thanks to Diane Shelley, Consumer Training Consultant – 406-544-9388
for passing this along- Russ)

Dodge and Portage counties already have made the transition to so-called Voice over IP, or Internet Protocol, he said.

Most of the savings would come when the county stops paying monthly fees of between $20 and $25 on 600 telephone lines, according to McGinnis. Annual savings from dropping the 600 lines is estimated at $149,100.

In addition, an annual maintenance fee of $9,000 for certain lines would no longer be necessary, McGinnis said.

On Wednesday, the County Board’s Finance Committee agreed to hire Inacom Information Systems of Madison to install equipment for the new service at a cost of $349,656. Full County Board approval of the hiring is not needed, and the project likely will be completed by November.

Each of the 600 desks losing their traditional phone line would be provided a new telephone linked to a computer with Internet access, McGinnis said.

The county will buy the 600 replacement phones from Inacom at a cost of about $150,000. Adapters for existing fax machines and computer modems will cost an additional $7,017.

The total to be paid to Inacom under the plan is $506,673. A majority of the cost, $356,673, was included in the Information Services department budget this year, said Administrative Coordinator Doug Johnson.

The remaining $150,000 in costs, the amount needed to buy the new telephones, could come from the county’s general fund, he said.

On Wednesday, the Finance Committee approved Johnson’s recommendation to transfer $150,000 from the fund as a loan to Information Services to pay for the telephones. The County Board will be asked to approve the transfer, with a repayment period of four years, at its next regular meeting June 8.

"There is an upfront cost, and there is big savings down the line," McGinnis told the County Board’s Finance Committee on Wednesday.

At this time, McGinnis is proposing that the county keep 149 of its current 749 lines so that employees can continue to make local and long-distance calls.

Each of the county’s 749 office phones would share the remaining 149 lines to the outside world, McGinnis said. If all lines are in use, a caller would hear a busy signal.

Calls between county offices would be routed through the county’s Internet service.

SBC Communications Inc. is the county’s current local and long-distance service provider. A contract with SBC expires in January 2005. For that reason, McGinnis studied possible cost-saving options to the traditional phone system.

The Internet-based telephone service would be provided to county offices at the Courthouse, Public Agency Center, Jail, Samaritan Health Center and the Highway Department’s Vehicle Maintenance and Storage Garage, McGinnis said. Fair Park in the Town of Polk and the Highway Department garage in Slinger are not included.

From the May 20, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

*************

Inacom Information Systems

3001 West Beltline Highway

Madison, WI 53713

Toll-free 1-877-462-2664 ext 2929

Fax 608-661-7701

http://www.inacom.com