ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PA. Report: Officials' cell-phone bill could reach $1M

Most of the cell phones are used by human services department workers.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Allegheny County's cell phone bill could reach nearly $1 million, but county officials say the wireless devices are needed to track down criminals, look after the elderly and even distribute raccoon bait.
Records show there are nearly 1,000 cell phones assigned to about 7,000 county employees. Payments to two cell phone companies through April have totaled $321,628. Such a pace would result in more than $960,000 by the end of the year, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Monday.
Though the bills for cell phones this year could triple compared with the amount spent two years ago, county officials say there hasn't been the same abuse that caused Philadelphia to restrict cell phone use. Allegheny County's cost of cell phones was $310,864 in 2001 and $543,871 in 2002.
Norman Mekkelsen, director of the county Administrative Services Department, estimated that reimbursable personal calls account for 5 percent or less of the county's cell phone bills.
Biggest users
Nearly half of the county's cell phones are used by the Department of Human Services. Most are used by caseworkers at Children, Youth and Family Services and the agency that looks after elderly residents, department spokeswoman Marge Lubawy said.
"Caseworkers have to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They may get a call from their client at any time. The cell phone is for accessibility and for safety," Lubawy said.
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. says his office has 20 cell phones for investigations. And public works director Tom Donatelli says the 35 cell phones in his department are assigned to supervisors and administrative staff.
"They're worth every penny," said county police Superintendent Ken Fulton. "You're making tons of calls when you are at a crime scene -- your supervisors and prospective witnesses. If we find a phone number we need, we're going to call it."
Problems in Philadelphia
Philadelphia officials have been trying to slash the city's 2,795 cell phones by up to 90 percent considering a $1.1 million cell phone bill in 2002. So far, workers have returned more than 1,000 phones. The city's new policy also seeks to dramatically cut down on personal use while limiting employees to either a cell phone, radio or pager.
"We started out with just a few officials with phones. Now we're facing a large budget shortfall that we're trying to meet," said Christine Ottow, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street.
Gov. Ed Rendell is examining how more than 5,000 state-issued cell phones are being used. In November, a former Labor Department official was fired after making more than 1,000 personal calls to Montana.
The city of Pittsburgh is trying to make sure that its 198 phones are used efficiently by conducting a survey, said Craig Kwiecinski, spokesman for Mayor Tom Murphy. The city spends about $85,000 a year on related costs.