Travis County Commissioners Court

April 17, 2012 - Item 10
Agenda

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10 is to approve modification number 7 so contract number 007 t 00103, securias for inmate pay phone services.
Commissioner Eckhardt has a question.

>> the question I had was this is a fairly substantial increase in the cost to the individuals who use the pay phones in the jail.
I get that it is exempt from competition because the county isn't spending any money and in contrast the county actually gets a concession off of it to the tune of, what, $800,000 this past year.
but I am concerned that this is a significant cost to Travis County residents who are either in the jail or family members of people in the jail.

>> I am so smart.
I knew you were going to ask that question.

>> I love that about you, cyd.

>> and thank you, judge dietz, for the vote of confidence.
actually, to clarify, the collect calls being charged to -- if my son was in the jail calling me from there, remain at the same $4.65.
it's my understanding that the increase you refer to going from 50 cents to a dollar is for did bit card use.
-- debit card use.
is that correct?
go ahead and explain that.

>> the debit card has been 50 cents a minute for -- I think we started in 2007.
this is a dollar surcharge.
then it's going to be 60 cents a minute after that.
what we've seen is people have been using the debit card if they're making a call for nine minutes or less.
and so -- what happened is the card, that revenue stays with tcso.
but calls that are more than nine minute or 10 minutes, they use the 465.
this method will be -- if they're making a phone call for less 10 minutes they'll use the debit card because it's cheaper.
and the revenue for the Commissioners' court and the general fund was at 1.6 and it has been dropping like a stone.
right now it's basically $835,000.
what this is, just a -- I've been trying to get the company to think outside the box.
I even suggested why don't we entertain -- go from 4.65 to 3.65 and see if that doesn't raise demand.
they didn't want to do that because it would drop the revenue down to 400,000 to see what would what would happen.

>> what was the reference to the $300,000 in the backup?

>> that is a value of the replacement cost.
that is the consideration that we're getting to extend it.
they need to upgrade the automated information system, which is a voice response system, and that's about $300,000 to upgrade that.
instead of us paying that in kind or consideration for them spending that money, we're going to -- we offered to extend the contract for additional years.
and just -- on the competition, it was competed years ago.
they did give us good rates, and the amount of money that we would spend to have to recompete and change providers would be a lot.
so we thought this was a good deal for us.

>> it would cost $300,000.

>> to upgrade their equipment and they're paying that.

>> either we pay it they do.
they pay it and they want an increase?

>> no.

>> they want to update it and us to extend the contract for the additional four years.

>> we're doing that out of consideration for the extension.

>> yes, sir.

>> but make no mistake, this is obviously a very lucrative contract for them otherwise they wouldn't be providing a concession to us to the tune of $800,000.

>> I agree.

>> and remember, it was a 1.6-million-dollar guarantee.

>> not anymore.
it's 800.
it used to be 1.6 and now it's 800,000.

>> so it's cheaper if they use the debit card.
not every inmate?

>> let's talk about the 300,000.

>> I'm beyond that.

>> good.

>> who pays the increase?

>> the inmate.

>> actually, the inmates, they pay $10 for a calling card.
they used to get whatever, 50 cents divided by that.
they get 20 minutes.
now what they do, for every call they're charged a sur that are, that's the surcharge of one dollar and then 60 cents a minute.
depending on how many calls they make.
the life of their card is going to be less.
it's not going to be 20 calls.

>> it will be one and a half calls because 10 minutes costs about seven bucks under this new cost structure.

>> these are collect phone calls?

>> if it's a debit card they charge it to their card and then the friends or family would get that -- it would say hey, this is walter in jail, you can accept the call, but it's not accept the call because it's not a charge.
the debit card will pay for it.

>> are you here on this item?
do you need to ask something?

>>

>> [inaudible - no mic].

>> okay.
I'm talking about item number 10.
do you want to give comments on 10?
any other questions?
sorry.
I withdraw the question.
any other comments, questions?

>> I'd like to work with the sheriff's department and with purchasing just to understand this contract a little better because I remain concerned that we are putting a considerable burden on the least able to pay in our community.
because it's seven bucks.

>> do you want to postpone the item?

>> no.
I think we need to -- this is a four-year extension, one year at a time?

>> yes.

>> we do not have to renew it.

>> we do not have to renew after one year.
this is a four-year option essentially.

>> correct.

>> so I'm fine with moving forward with this because it's also tied into a whole structure at the sheriff's department and corrections is actually, it's a perk, yes.
you don't get to buy one of these cards if you're on bad behavior.
so I don't want to upset a well-defined structure that already exists, but I would like to investigate it some more because I do think that roughly between six and seven dollars for a 10 minute call an inmate is rough.

>> second the motion.
I'll make it.
move approval.

>> second.

>> seconded by Commissioner Eckhardt.
any more discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you very much.
thank you for your patience.

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