Butler County’s effort to work toward a money saving goal is focused on improving efficiency of printer and photocopier use in county government.

Amcom, the consulting branch of Xerox, is doing a free study for the county, which is expected to be done in April.

The study is part of the commissioners’ effort to cut expenses. Although they have a $5 million goal, not all the steps will result in immediate savings.

County Commissioner Kevin Boozel said the purpose is to develop a plan to save the county time and money. He hopes to implement the eventual plan in phases.

“We’re not going to fix it in a day,” Boozel said.

County Controller Ben Holland agreed.

“You have to start somewhere,” Holland said.

The county uses three vendors, Ford Business Machines, Canon Business Solutions and Van Dyk Business Systems, but has dozens of contracts covering each department and row office.

Ford has more than 20 separate county contracts. Van Dyk has roughly 20 contracts. The number of Canon contracts was unavailable.

For 2015, the county spent a total of $76,455 for copy machine leases, maintenance and copy overages, which are the number of copies exceeding contract limits.

Most of that total, $56,290, was paid to Ford, $10,804 went to Van Dyk and the remaining $9,361 went to Canon.

Holland said there is a wide variance because even contracts with the same vendor have different rates.

“You have these rates all across the board, and they’re all very inconsistent,” he said.

According to county controller records, Van Dyk’s black-and-white copies started at less than 1 cent and extended to 2 cents. Color copies ranged from 4 cents to 18 cents.

Under the Ford contract, black-and-white page rates go from less than 1 cent to 2 cents. Color copies range from 1 cent to 10 cents.

Canon’s rate schedule was unavailable.

Holland said every invoice would have to be checked to determine a total number of copies made in 2015.

The county paid roughly $85,000 on toner ink last year.

The study is reviewing where all the copy machines are in county buildings and photocopy use at each area.

Boozel said the county needs to know exactly what copiers and printers it has to create an effective plan.

He conceded there would be an up-front cost, which means the savings wouldn’t occur for a few years.

Boozel said once specifications would be created down the road, the county would request proposals from bidders to provide copier/printer services countywide.

Holland said along with aligning contract rates, the way to cut costs is to scrutinize copier use.

“The savings will be monitoring it,” he said.

One way to streamline printer use is place them only where they’re needed.

“I don’t have a personal printer at my desk,” he said. “Not everybody needs their own printer.”

Boozel said paper documents could be converted to electronic files in such departments as tax claim and assessment.

He cited an example of how items slip through the cracks, such as no one knew the copier in the commissioners’ office on the fifth floor of the government center had scanning capabilities until this year.

“It was never utilized in that fashion,” Boozel said.

Taking inventory of supplies also plays a part.

Recently, 20 toner containers worth a total of about $2,000 were found stored in a closet. Boozel said that ink was distributed to offices where it could be used.

In addition to tackling the problem at the county level, Boozel also is working at the state level to increase the use of electronic filing.

He is on the IT committee for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, lobbying state officials to change the law so legal documents can be stored electronically.

Boozel said one way to improve efficiency is eventually to use machines requiring the use of employee identification badges to activate a printer.

According to Boozel, using that process would eliminate “orphan prints,” abandoned pages left by the machines because people forget them.

He said another possible change that could be implemented sooner is rotating machines among areas in county government from heavy use to light use, which extends the life span of the equipment.

Upon taking office this year, the commissioners started using the same electronic calendar to enhance efficiency.

“There has to be a level of trust,” Boozel said about sharing information.

He said under previous practices, it took days to coordinate the schedules of all three commissioners to set up meetings.

Holland agreed such methods contribute to efficiency.

“That’s what I do with my staff,” he said. “It takes the guesswork out of it.”

Boozel said the purpose of the county study already is being realized, citing the purchase of a new printer being delayed until a plan is set.

“Already, we’re seeing ‘let’s put the brakes on this,’” he said.