Nassau, BOCES tout joint savings

Representatives of Nassau County and Nassau BOCES announced Thursday that a state-funded drive to consolidate countywide operations of school districts and other government agencies has yielded $9.5 million in savings so far.

Since the project was launched in fall 2009, officials say, their agencies have saved $8 million through cooperative purchases of natural gas and other fuels alone. Other savings have been achieved through joint bidding on such services as telecommunications, auditing and bus transportation.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano applauded the savings at the BOCES Lupinskie Center in Westbury Thursday night, addressing about 40 administrators and officials.

"I'm very proud. . . . That's a significant amount of money," he said. "There's more money to be saved, and certainly there's more buying power."

Nassau's "School and Municipal Savings Initiative" -- the biggest ever attempted in the state -- involves public libraries and one town, as well as schools and county agencies. About $1 million in seed money for the project was provided by a state 21st Century Demonstration Grant.

Savings remain relatively small, in comparison to the more than $5 billion spent annually by Nassau's 56 school districts, and the billions more spent by other municipal agencies. Still, project sponsors hope that yields will continue to accumulate in the years ahead, especially if more school districts sign on.

So far, 28 districts have agreed to coordinate bids for busing students to out-of-district locations including private schools -- the largest joint school effort to date.

"We hope the momentum we started, we can continue into the future," said Robert Hanna, deputy superintendent of the Nassau County Board of Cooperative Educational Services and the project's chief coordinator. "It actually works well for everybody."

Continued progress under the Nassau initiative isn't guaranteed. All but about $140,000 of the state's start-up grant has been spent, and the rest must be committed by March 2013.

Still, cooperative purchasing by local government agencies is not limited to Nassau alone but is common across Long Island. Late last year, Suffolk County and dozens of its school districts reported a successful joint bid on natural gas that officials said would save a combined $1.2 million annually in heating costs.

In West Hempstead, deputy schools Superintendent Richard Cunningham says his district would save $10,000 this year in actuarial services alone, due to a recent joint agreement. The district also has been active for years in cooperative bidding on bus transportation.

"Even when the [state] grant expires, I feel the work in this area will progress," Cunningham said.

With Zachary Dowdy