Do governments get best cell phone deal?

In the five-county Baltimore region, taxpayers instead doled out about $125,000 a month to pay for cell phone services for county employees from August 2005 to September 2006, according to cell phone statements and invoices The Examiner obtained.

That bill doesn’t even include Baltimore City or the state’s cell phones. The Examiner requested those bills through the Maryland Public Information Act, but has not received them.

Is it excessive? Maybe not, when you calculate the monthly price of a county cell phone bill per employee: Carroll, $43; Harford, $41; Howard, $36; Baltimore, $35; and Anne Arundel, $33.

What consumer wouldn’t want a bill like that?

“[Our price] is pretty good when you consider what an individual pays and you know it gives you easy access to people who are out of the office,” Harford Director of Procurement Debbie Henderson said.

But some say the government can do better, including Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, who last month ordered a review of Howard’s cell phone usage.

“The county executive ordered the review to make sure the right folks have these phones and are using them properly,” Howard spokesman Kevin Enright said.

Per-month cell phones cost $33,341 in Baltimore, $31,654 in Anne Arundel, $15,517 in Carroll, $25,361 in Harford and $21,854 in Howard.

The Examiner reviewed hundreds of records that revealed a buffet of service plans, some of which still charged by the minute and other phones not even being used. And some individual bills were hundreds of dollars.

One cell phone user on a Cingular plan in Anne Arundel ran up a $214.06 bill using 453 minutes in July 2006. Two more Anne Arundel employees with Cingular plans ran up bills in excess of $300. Another Anne Arundel Verizon user ran up a $687.77 bill last April. Records did not show which departments those phones were assigned to or who used them.

“They shouldn’t have a $214 bill. That seems excessive,” said Citizens Against Government Waste Vice President for Policy David Williams, who reviewed some of the cell phone records. “They’re not using their bargaining power. Can’t we get a better deal on this?”

Williams said the variety of service plans and the seeming disconnect between government spending on cell phones and individual consumers mystified him.

The counties piggyback on state cell phone provider contracts to get the best deal, but do not look for one provider to handle the entire county.

“I spent three weeks [looking for a new cell phone plan], and I’m one person,” Williams said. “You’d think these supervisors would spend as much time and say we’re going to pick one provider and get the best bang for our buck. This is not a Halliburton contract. We’re not criticizing the use of cell phones, mainly because we want government to embrace the new technology. But we don’t want people gabbing to their friends and relatives on these things.”

Baltimore County limits cell phones to mostly public safety personnel and department heads, said spokesman Don Mohler, who represents Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith.

“We try to identify who needs their phones to be on-call during off hours,” Mohler said. “There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but we really look at it and try to evaluate in terms of who needs a phone when they are away from work, to be available 24-7.”

Carroll County Public Safety Office Administrator Scott Campbell said government employees’ cell-phone use is scrutinized to make sure taxpayer dollars aren’t being wasted — and yet Carroll spends more per employee than the other five counties, according to records The Examiner reviewed.

“We strive for as much standardization as possible and for the most modest devices and plans,” he said.

Carroll uses several different carriers — Cingular, Nextel, Verizon — because some have better coverage, while others, like Nextel, offer a walkie-talkie function, Campbell said.

“If and when Verizon/AT&T, or whomever, gets into direct-connect features, I can assure taxpayers that we will stay abreast of the options to save money,” Campbell said.

Anne Arundel’s phones also operate on a mix of all three major cellular-service providers, Cingular Wireless, Nextel/Sprint and Verizon Wireless. Some service plans offered a flat monthly rate for a specified number of minutes, while others charged a nominal fee for the phone and charged by the minute for usage.

The county also owns 28 BlackBerry devices. Also, an estimated 80 phones sat idle on a monthly basis, incurring only the minimum service charge to keep the plan active.

The convenient two-way radio-capable Nextel phones often were issued to employees whose vehicles double as their offices — police detectives, command lieutenants, public works crews — the same employees who also tend to have access to radios.

“Officers in certain assignments are assigned cell phones, such as commanders, detectives, public information officers — those who are often in contact with people outside of the realm of sworn police officers,” Howard police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said.

Patrol officers are not given cell phones, she said.

Lt. David Waltemeyer, spokesman for the Anne Arundel police, said cell phones are used in lieu of the police radio to avoid choking traffic on the airwaves. Phones are also the better way to relay personal information about victims instead of broadcasting the information over the police radio.

“In recent past [before the county-issued phones] you’d use your own or borrow someone else’s. Or go to pay phone,” Waltemeyer said. “Or information didn’t get relayed. ... [Cell phones are] not only helping us, they’re essential. They’re crucial.”

stracy@baltimoreexaminer.com

Examiner Staff Writers Jaime Malarkey, Sara Michael, Joe Palazzolo, Matt Santoni and Kelsey Volkman contributed to this report.