APS paying $365 for $16 in parts - installed

APS and the Journal are celebrating an APS employee for saving the district a ton of money, link.  It appears that APS (taxpayers) were paying roughly tens times as much to fix its security cameras as the repairs should actually cost.

Journal education reporter Hailey Heinz reported the following;

Thousands saved

The Albuquerque Public Schools board recognized an employee Wednesday who is saving the district thousands of dollars in surveillance camera maintenance.

Melissa Cruz, an APS police dispatcher, was making a routine repair to a surveillance camera when she realized the district was overpaying. Specifically, she learned that two belts, which allow the cameras to pan, tilt and zoom, cost $8 each. APS’ vendor was charging $365 to take one camera down and replace those belts and the vendor was taking up to six weeks per camera.

Cruz can replace belts on a camera in one hour, using the two $8 belts. APS has about 2,500 surveillance cameras.

“She has saved this district thousands and thousands of dollars,” said APS Chief Operations Officer Brad Winter.

Heinz apparently did not investigate and therefore did not report upon the circumstances that allowed the egregious ripoff of taxpayers in the first place.  Who is responsible for the lack of oversight?

In chasing down the root cause of the waste, the chase for the buck lands on APS COO Brad Winter's desk.  But instead of having to explain why nobody noticed this before, or likely any one of a number of other similar ripoffs in progress, Winter was allowed to praise the employee instead.

The vendor was not named, much less did they have to explain the overcharges.

Heinz reported no outrage expressed by board members over circumstances that could be costing taxpayers tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

There will be no further investigation or report on whose signature adorns the bottom of the contract to pay $365 dollar for $16 worth of parts and an hour of labor.

Point to the employee who uncovered the outrage,
ignore the administrator(s) who signed off on it.

Great coverage Journal!