Butler County is consolidating its internal printing.

The county commissioners Wednesday are set to vote on a request for proposals seeking one company to assume all printer and photocopier use in county government.

Commissioner Kevin Boozel said this past Wednesday the move would improve efficiency.

“You have power of efficiency of scale,” he said.

He maintains the change also would save the county money.

The county now has dozens of contracts with three vendors: Ford Business Machines, Canon Business Solutions and Van Dyk Business Systems.

County Controller Ben Holland agreed printing services is an issue.

“Every office has its own contract,” Holland said in an interview.

Ford and Van Dyk each have roughly 20 county contracts. Canon has four.

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

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

Even contracts with the same vendor have varying rates.

Holland said money should be saved by the pending consolidation.

Boozel said during the meeting that the county has been paying a significant amount just for toner ink. The county in 2015 paid roughly $86,000 on toner ink.

Holland said efficiency would be enhanced, including dozens of bills being reduced to one.

Holland said internal auditing would be greatly simplified as a result.

He said he fully supports the switch. “I’ve been in favor of this even before this board came into office,” Holland said.