Back when the state was rolling in dough, it was spending more than $40,000 in magazine subscriptions. That’s roughly 70,000 issues of Sports Illustrated or The New Yorker a year. Or, whatever it is state employees are reading in their spare time at work.
But no more. Magazine subscriptions are among the cost-cutting measures Gov. M. Jodi Rell is ordering as she looks to get the state’s finances under control.
"More hot dogs, less steak," Rell said in a news release from her office -- likening her decisions to those a family would make at the meat counter of Shaw's.
Rell said Thursday that she is canceling contracts that will save the state $21.3 million for this fiscal year. Car wash and detailing services: gone, saving $14,210. Purchase, repair and maintenance of musical instruments: finished, saving $57,707.
Here’s the complete list:
- Passenger cars, saving $5,149,897
- Digital postage equipment, supplies and services, saving $1,065,327
- Promotional products, saving $381,834
- Uniforms (other than contractually required), saving $259,259
- Athletic equipment (not including playground equipment), saving $304,300
- Office furniture, metal, wood, chairs (non-systems furniture), saving $1,247,393
- Systems furniture, freestanding partitions, technical computer LAN furniture, saving $933,516
- Classroom/school furniture, saving $347,466
- Rental and pre-owned office furniture, saving $255,765
- Car wash and detail service, saving $14,210
- Purchase, repair and maintenance of musical instruments, saving $57,707
- Outside legal services for underground storage tank cleanup, saving $39,583
- Magazine subscriptions, saving $40,248
Her office says staff members are renegotiating contracts that total in the billions of dollars. Even a 1 percent savings, they tell us, could save the coffers $18.1 million.
That way, another few state workers can keep their jobs and buy their own issues of Better Homes and Gardens.
