Fiscal Year 2005/06 Proposed Rate Changes

The following is a summary of the changes to Communications Services' recharge rates for fiscal year 2005/2006 that were recently proposed to the Income & Recharge Committee. The proposed implementation date for the above changes is July 1, 2005.

1. Each month, our department incurs expenses from telephone carriers for Directory Assistance calls made by our telephone customers. There are two types of charges: $0.35 per call for local Directory Assistance (telephone numbers within the local Verizon calling area) and $0.95 per call for all other Directory Assistance (e.g., telephone numbers in other states). For many years, telephone customers received five free calls each month, even though we had to pay the telephone carriers for the cost of these calls from other telephone service recharges. This has caused departments that do not make Directory Assistance calls to subsidize the departments that do make Directory Assistance calls. We proposed the elimination of the five free Directory Assistance calls provided to all faculty and staff telephone customers each month.
2. Due to the budget restrictions on campus over the past few years, the recharge rate for Cox Communications cable television services has not increased since fiscal year 2002/03. Prior to that year, the recharge rate was set to match the rate charged by Cox for cable television services provided to residents in Santa Barbara County. In addition, our staff has received requests from several departments for a "bulk" rate, one that would cover many outlets in a single building. Two changes to the Business cable television recharge rates were proposed:
   1. Increase the current rate of $41.15 per month to $48.61 per month, the current Cox rate for residential service, to all single outlet customers.
   2. Offer a bulk rate, based on the charge model of DirectTV and other satellite companies: a standard monthly rate for the first outlet and a greatly reduced rate for each additional outlet in the same building, recharged to the same department. Under this model, the first outlet rate would be the current Cox rate of $48.61 per month and each additional outlet, in the same building, charged to the same department, would be $5.00 per month.
3. We proposed increasing the hourly labor rate for our technicians and project managers from the current $70.00 per hour to $75.00 per hour. This is the first increase in this rate since fiscal year 1997/98 and the percentage increase is less than the cumulative increase in salaries and benefits since that year.
4. Since fiscal year 1998/99, Communications Services has managed and maintained the 800 MHz two-way radio system used by twenty-three departments on campus. Fifteen of these departments have only one or two radios, to be used in the event of a campus emergency. The remaining departments (e.g., Police, Environmental Health & Safety, Facilities Management, Housing & Residential Services, Parking Services and Communications Services) have dozens of radios and use them constantly throughout the day to complete their duties. Communications Services incurs expenses from Motorola, the company that services the equipment, and departmental staff salaries and benefits to operate and manage the system. Our department has always charged a monthly maintenance fee to each department using these radios to recover our expenses. Due to the budget restrictions on campus over the past few years, our department absorbed the increases in expenses, but cannot afford to do so any longer. We proposed an increase in the recharge rate for radio maintenance from the current $14.25 per month to $16.30 per month, per radio.

For comments or questions, send email to Vince Sefcik, Director of Communications Services.

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