Douglas County officials plan to save up to $100,000 next year by taking their business out of town.

Beginning next month, county government will turn to outside vendors for handling outgoing mail and providing office supplies.

Charles Jones, chairman of the County Commission, said that while some Lawrence-area businesses might cringe at the thought of their representatives spending tax money elsewhere, the benefits of securing savings should take precedence.

“All things being equal, you’d prefer to purchase in town,” Jones said. “But all things aren’t equal. And where there are significant savings to be made, I feel like we owe it to the taxpayers to try to use their money efficiently, and go with the cheapest vendor.”

By joining a supply contract negotiated by the Kansas Regional Council of Higher Education, a cooperative, the county anticipates saving $50,000 to $60,000 next year.

The contract covers everything from pens and paper clips to paper rolls and laser printer cartridges.

The county’s current contract with M&M Office Supply, 623 Mass., will be replaced with the group’s arrangement with Corporate Express of Kansas City, Mo. The county spent $121,916 on office supplies a year ago.

Significant savings

The switch will save the county 5 cents on each box of paper clips, 68 cents on each calculator ribbon and $6.84 for each desk stapler, said Pam Madl, assistant county administrator.

And that’s only the beginning.

“We’ve been floored,” said Madl, whose job title changed this week from director of administrative services. “It’s going to be significant savings.”

Officials also are hiring Stampede Mail Services, of Lenexa, to prepare and send the county’s daily mail.

The county is switching from its existing system, which requires each department to prepare and send its own mail — whether it’s a single health-insurance notice from administrative services or thousands of valuation notices from the appraiser’s office. The move is expected to deliver savings of about $40,000 during the first year.

Both contracts are part of the county’s efforts to boost revenues by streamlining operations without sacrificing services. Earlier this year, the county increased its return from sales of surplus equipment by auctioning items on eBay instead of using regional auctions.

City also outsourcing

Officials from the city of Lawrence also are lining up a new mail contract. By hiring Stampede, the city would replace its two-year-old deal with Express Pack & Mail, which operates within Pro-Print, 838 Mass.

Frank Reeb, city clerk, said the new deal could save the city about $10,000 in the next year. Much of the savings would come from paying a “pre-sort” rate — 35.2 cents for each one-ounce piece of first-class mail — instead of spending the full 37 cents for each letter.

For a municipal operation that sends an average of 750 letters a day, Reeb said, it won’t take long for the savings to add up.

“It’s something we couldn’t get from our current provider,” Reeb said of the pre-sort rate. “It’s something we wanted to take advantage of.”

Lawrence city commissioners are expected to consider approving the mail-services contract during their next meeting, set for 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts.

Shifting any government contract from a local vendor can be uncomfortable, Jones said, but officials can’t lose sight of their duty to provide services effectively and efficiently.

“If it’s really close — you know, if it’s within 5 percent — I’ve oftentimes said, ‘Let’s go with the local vendor,'” Jones said. “But it’s a tough issue. The other problem is that when you begin to exclude shopping in other places, they have a way of retaliating and not shopping in Douglas County.

“If we were to exclude vendors in Kansas City, Kansas City may very well exclude vendors from Douglas County. I think, in the long run, what you have to do is when it’s awfully, awfully close, then you go local. But where there’s a big difference, you go with least cost.”