DATE: Saturday, June 7, 1997                TAG: 9706060005

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   34 lines

WORKING TOGETHER VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS VOTE TO MERGE PRINT SERVICES WITH THE CITY

The Virginia Beach School Board voted Tuesday to consolidate its print-shop operations with the city's. We applaud that decision and urge the School Board to move ahead with plans to reduce redundancies by consolidating other services.

Consolidation, where it can be shown to save money and streamline operations, is smart. Larger departments can save money by buying in volume and can often make do with less equipment and fewer employees.

While there will be no savings on salaries with this consolidation - in fact, costs will rise as some school employees get a pay bump to gain parity with their better-paid city counterparts - savings should accrue in the future when purchasing costs drop.

This small victory was hard-fought. Consolidation of the two print shops has been considered since 1992, but the adversarial relationship between City Council and School Board stymied plans many times.

This becomes the fourth departmental merger between schools and city. So far, landscape, video services and benefits departments have been consolidated, all with some success.

City Council strongly supports more mergers, particularly in the area of accounting, finances and payroll. The School Board has delayed voting on such a merger, mostly out of fear that it is a power play by City Council.

Both sides should study consolidating financial services. If such a move would truly save tax dollars and reduce waste in government, while allowing the schools to operate independent of city interference, consolidation should go ahead.

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