The Daily Bulletin Archive

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
Governor Paterson recently created the New York State Office of Taxpayer Accountability to oversee and implement the governor’s “continuing commitment to reduce the costs of state operations” and to help with the current budget crisis. The office plans to issue a number of directives to state agencies to reduce costs. The first, titled “Holding Down Print Costs,” was issued in August.

The directive received by my office outlines the actions that agencies are expected to take to eliminate wasteful copying and printing. SUNY is strongly encouraging all campuses to make their best efforts to implement the actions outlined below, and to take other steps that can reduce printing costs. Both SUNY and the state are aware that many agencies are already undertaking their own agendas to cut costs and find efficiencies.

Our goal at Buffalo State is to do our part to reduce spending on paper, print supplies, maintenance, and purchases of printing equipment, as well as to lower our power consumption—goals that should be viewed as part of a broader effort to move toward a more paper-free environment. In general, college employees are expected to use electronic media instead of paper whenever possible, and to seek new ways of doing business that support that approach.

Specific items contained in the directive include keeping all printing to a minimum or eliminating it completely. Except under compelling circumstances, agencies are to:

1. Set printers and copiers to print on both sides of a page as the default setting.
2. Eliminate the printed distribution of documents (e.g., memos, brochures, monthly reports, annual reports, etc.) in favor of electronic or Web-based distributions.
3. Reduce or eliminate paper mailings in favor of e-mail. Plan for forms and mailings to capture e-mail addresses, and encourage respondents to opt for future communications by e-mail.
4. Display presentations for meetings on a screen rather than distributing printed copies. If desired, presentations may be distributed electronically to meeting participants.
5. Eliminate all specialty printing jobs that require special paper or equipment, e.g., invitations or announcements.
6. Eliminate personal printers, except in those cases where an accommodation must be made for a person with a disability.
7. Replace multiple, individual printers in adjacent offices with standardized, centralized networked copiers with lower power consumption and per-page costs.

We know that you will put forth your best effort to implement these actions. Thank you for your anticipated support and cooperation. If you have any questions or would like electronic copies of the documents referred to herein, please call my office at 878-4311.