AUSTIN, Texas — A new audit has found that the City of Austin is still spending thousands on pagers – more than $88,000 per year to be exact.
Findings of the audit show that the City has not effectively managed its pager system, which is resulting in unnecessary spending and possibly impacting the City's ability to communicate in an emergency.
The report stated that Austin has been contracting with a wireless communication services vendor since 1999. Pagers are a part of this system.
However, some City staff members have said the pagers are not useful and they have been using other devices and systems to meet their communications needs.
The audit stated that the City paid for unused pagers, including some that were assigned to staff members who no longer even work for the city. It also stated that the City does not have a strategy to find out if key staff members are connected to the system or using their device, which could be causing critical lapses in communication.
Since 1999, the City has been working with the vendor Spok, which allows staff to communicate via pager, text messaging, email or the Spok smartphone application.
At the beginning of 2020, 27 of 33 City departments evaluated in the audit had an account with Spok. The report stated the pagers come with a $4.50 monthly service charge per user with a replacement cost of about $35. Accounts that combine paging services with others such as text or email can cost as much as $11.50 per month per user.
Departments still using pagers were listed as follows:
- Austin Water – 317 accounts
- Aviation – 222 accounts
- Communications and Technology Management (and Wireless Services) – 222 accounts
- Police – 182 accounts
- Austin Energy – 166 accounts
- EMS – 122 accounts
- Austin Resource Recovery – 58 accounts
- Fire – 12 accounts
Of those with pager accounts, about 41% of respondents said they use their pager once per month or less. And 31% said they do not know where their pager is or indicated that their device is not currently functioning. Dead batteries were the most frequent explanation, but one employee stated they were “told upon hire to take out the battery and place [the pager] in [the] top drawer of [your] desk.” Additionally, about 66% of respondents said they could accomplish their tasks without a pager.
According to the audit, some emergency staff members said pagers have served as a critical tool for reliable communication in emergency situations.
"Unlike radios and cellphones, pagers have a long battery life and their relatively low cost make them ideal for communicating with large numbers of people," the audit stated. "Under certain conditions, pagers remain more reliable than cellphones and can deliver widespread messages without any delays. However, the rise of smartphones and the increased reliability of cellphone networks may make pagers obsolete for some users in the City."
As the City reaches the expiration of its current communications contract in 2022, the audit stated it's important for officials to review what services are still needed, how those services are provided, and if they meet the varying needs of the departments and their regional partners.
The audit's results can be read in full here.
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