The Starke County Commissioners discussed having their telecommunication bills audited during their meeting Monday.
Starke County IT Director Stanley Budd informed the commissioners about a technology expense management company named SpyGlass. He stated the company combs through bills, contracts, usage reports and customer service records to find errors, overcharges and inefficiencies for telecommunication expense savings. It was noted SpyGlass is a performance based company that is only paid once money has been saved.
Budd said if the commissioners were to approve SpyGlass to conduct audits of the county’s telecommunication bills, this would give them access to phone lines, internet lines and cell phone lines in hopes they are able to save the county on monthly expenses they may not know about. He went on to say if SpyGlass were to find anything the county had overpaid previously, they would get 50 percent of the total savings while the other 50 percent would go to SpyGlass. It was not mentioned how far back SpyGlass would conduct their audit but 50 percent of anything refunded before the start of their work would be given to the county.
It was then noted, any expenses saved by SpyGlass moving forward for the next 12 months, 100 percent of the cost savings would go directly to them. After those 12 months, everything done by SpyGlass in terms of savings would go straight to the county and SpyGlass would be finished. In a follow up interview, Budd told WKVI News, SpyGlass was brought forward in hopes to keep the county’s annual budget as low as possible each year in terms of its telecommunication bills. He formally asked the commissioners to approve the letter of agency to be sent to SpyGlass in order to start the auditing process.
A motion was made to approve the letter of agency to SpyGlass. That motion was seconded and passed unanimously by vote.
