Glen Cove joins L.I. Purchasing Council

It’s not just warehouse-store shoppers looking to save by buying in bulk.

Glen Cove, the Nassau County city of 27,000 people, has become the latest municipality to join the fledgling Long Island Purchasing Council, a consortium aimed at pooling common government needs to get better pricing.

“It’s a no-brainer from our standpoint,” said Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi. “It won’t cost us any more, but will allow us to spend less.”

By approving a resolution Tuesday, Glen Cove’s City Council joins Suffolk and Nassau counties, Brookhaven and Oyster Bay towns and more than a dozen villages and special districts as members. The consortium formed last August, and as its first joint bid it obtained 24,000 cases of paper in December.

Had the paper been purchased individually, two counties said they would have paid $107,000 more, officials said. Future cooperative bids will be for sewer and waste-water treatment chemicals, lumber, paint and fencing.

“The efforts of this group will help eliminate the waste of taxpayer dollars,” Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said in a statement. “Together, we are stronger.”

In addition to Glen Cove, the purchasing council recently welcomed Jericho Water District and Port Washington Water Pollution Control District — the first two special districts to join. No school districts have joined.

Suozzi said Glen Cove’s involvement is a “classic win-win.” He anticipated saving money on such things as truck tires.

“Besides avoiding redundancy,” he said, “it’s efficient.”