What we re seeing is that many places are really taking a look at doing more with less, said Steve H

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In this Monday, Sept. 17, 2012 photo, Mary Morgan, a Nassau County information technology specialist, poses with the telephones she is assessing as part of a countywide efficiency effort in Mineola, N.Y. Nassau County is currently shutting tampa airport dollar rental car off hundreds of unused telephone lines and reviewing their current stock of telephones as part of a cost-cutting initiative. (Full-size photo)
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) In some places, it s as simple as pulling the plug on thousands of unused telephone lines or installing software tampa airport dollar rental car that automatically shuts off idle school computers to save on electric bills. Other places are doing such things as merging town fire departments, combining 911 centers or outsourcing collection of parking fines.
What we re seeing is that many places are really taking a look at doing more with less, said Steve Hamill, a former administrator in Alameda County, Calif., and founder of the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, which helps municipalities learn of money-saving opportunities.
During the worst of the downturn, many local governments resorted to layoffs and other blunt means of cutting spending. Now, with the economy still shaky, they are looking in less obvious tampa airport dollar rental car places for ways to save money.
Earlier this year, Long Island s two counties and several townships announced anticipated savings of more than $1 million annually by joining forces to buy such things as medical supplies for ambulances and chemicals for wastewater treatment and swimming pools.
In neighboring Nassau County, officials are in the midst of a review of unused telephones and telephone lines in the wake of large staff cutbacks. The county comptroller s office estimates as many as 3,000 phone lines could be disconnected by the end of the year, saving more than $535,000.
Idaho s Coeur d Alene School District set up a system to turn off all computer monitors after five minutes of inactivity. Computers are put in standby mode after 90 minutes. The district expects to save $300,000 over three years, Hamill said.
Last year, three cities in San Diego County El Cajon, La Mesa and Lemon Grove struck an agreement to combine their firefighting, emergency medical treatment and emergency planning tampa airport dollar rental car services. They expect to save a combined $560,000 tampa airport dollar rental car annually. Fire response times haven t suffered, according to Heartland Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Mike Scott.
Three counties in New Jersey are each trying to combine their local 911 call centers under one roof. Something similar has already been done in Lincoln Park, Southgate and Wyandotte, three cities in Michigan s Wayne County.
In other places, discussions are under way to consolidate school districts. And some municipalities are outsourcing data processing operations that manage such things as the collection of property taxes and parking fines, Hamill said.
Connecticut placed nine state agencies tampa airport dollar rental car within a new Office of Government Accountability, tampa airport dollar rental car resulting in a reduction of 23 positions and a savings tampa airport dollar rental car of $1.5 million in 2012 and a projected $1.8 million in 2013.
Kansas estimates it will save $3 million in 2012 by abolishing tampa airport dollar rental car its Health Policy Authority and shifting its responsibilities, tampa airport dollar rental car including the administration of Medicaid, to the Department of Health and Environment.
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