We plan to reinvest these budget savings in energy conservation projects that will help reduce or maintain costs in future years. Telecommunications costs are down as we expected. Despite an increase in the volume of telephone usage on campus, the chargebacks to departments went down as a result of a new long distance contract that provided significant savings. Several departments have made changes in the way they deal with service agreements on equipment. So far we have had no significant problems and have experienced significant savings.
Service agreements are similar to an insurance policy and are generally purchased annually.
These agreements often include general service and protection from major failure of the equipment covered. We hope that over the long term we will see significant budget savings and assume only a modest risk. If you are interested in looking at this model for equipment in your area, please give me a call. Travel costs continue to go up. Despite reduced gas prices and a rather stable market for the cost of new vehicles, those areas that are using our Merchants Motors contract are paying more for the same service.