The Washington City Council Monday approved the purchase of two new copiers to be used at city hall.
The council voted 8-0 to purchase the copiers to be used in the administration and engineering departments, which are the highest users next on the copier replacement list. The cost of the copy machines is $6,110 per machine or $12,220 total.
Mary Sprung, finance officer, said several copiers are nearing 10 years old and the city has been informed by its copier service provider that parts will not be available and it is time to consider replacement.
The city is budgeting for copier replacement over the next few years so that all machines would be replaced within five years. There is $20,000 for copier replacement in 2019. The police department copier was purchased in October 2018.
Sprung said the city received three bids. The cost for the Ricoh model is $6,009 per machine and the Canon cost is $6,110 per machine. While Ricoh has better pricing for black and white images, Canon has better pricing for color images, she added.
Sprung explained the savings potential lies in the overall page/image pricing in which the Canon model will save the city more in the next five years based on the history of the usage of the two departments. The total investment cost in a five-year period is $15,801 for the Canon and is $14,210 for the Ricoh model.
Sprung said the copiers will pay for themselves in under two years and will provide the departments with a much more efficient copier at a much cheaper monthly cost. The city will still have $2,780 left in the budget after this purchase.