Fortune Consulting - Federal Excise Tax Refund

Telecom audit finds more than $320,000 in savings for Northampton County

By Joe Nixon of The Morning Call
January 27, 2008

A New Jersey consultant has helped Northampton County dial up some hefty savings on its telecom services.

County officials announced Friday that seven months of work so far by Fortune Consulting of Long Branch, N.J., will yield first-year savings of more than $320,000 once three renegotiated contracts are enacted.

Fortune looked at the county's local and long-distance service, 911 center lines, toll-free service, connectivity between buildings, and Internet service. The company's audit of the county, which include 13 carriers, did not include county cell phones, however.

''It didn't cost us anything to do, but it's a surprising amount of money that we can save by doing this telephone audit,'' County Executive John Stoffa said, adding the county will also look at electric, oil and water use and elevator maintenance.

''It's like taking your telephone bill and understanding what it is,'' Stoffa said. ''Try to do that sometime.''

Officials said the rest of the county's telecom services will be examined over the next several months, but similarly large savings are not expected.

After the initial year, telecom expenditures are projected to be about $250,000 a year below current levels. A handful of unused lines were found and eliminated, but were not a major factor in the cost reductions.

Verizon has the largest share of the county telecom bill, officials said. Two of the three renegotiated contracts are with Verizon, and the third is with for long-distance service with RCN, said Dave Baldwin, a senior consultant with Fortune.

The county has over 400 phone lines. Stoffa credited Mazziotti with suggesting the phone audit be done.
While the current study looked at telecom lines and services, Mazziotti said a follow-up examination may be done on the phone equipment itself. ''[Fortune's] persistence on this was amazing,'' he said.