Friday, February 8, 2002
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Friday, February 8, 2002 |
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Edwards: Combine government buying power
By JOHN
THOMPSON Call it a contrast in governments. In downtown Atlanta, the Fulton County Commission recently passed its $599 million budget, which was balanced and provides a variety of services for its residents with no expected tax increase. But just across the street at Atlanta City Hall, the number-crunchers are hammering out proposals to try and erase an $82 million budget deficit left by the previous administration. Fulton County Commissioner Bill Edwards has seen the struggle Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is going through, and believes he has a partial solution to some of the money woes. "I would love to see all the municipalities and Fulton County get together to implement a central purchasing policy," he said. Edwards said each government purchases items such as fire trucks and police cars. If all the government agencies joined together, the commissioner believes everybody could save money. There has been some initial discussion about possibly sharing services, but Edwards said that would take a long time to implement. A central purchasing policy can be done a lot quicker and save money this year, he said.
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