Construction and computer software are at the top of Ramsey County’s shopping list

Leading categories of nonconstruction spending for the county include: computer software, motor vehicles and telephone/emergency 911 system hardware. The county spent more than $2.4 million on computer software and nearly $872,000 on telephones and emergency 911 systems.

Spending on automobiles and vans exceeded $241,000, with additional monies spent on trucks, trailers, dump bodies and other vehicle categories.

The Ramsey County list ranks the top 100 commodities and services purchased, based on purchase orders. Items purchased on contracts, pickup order and some professional service agreements are not reflected in the totals.

A new commodities list, with updates for 2007, should be available sometime in March. The county’s Contract and Analysis Services Division compiles the list.

County’s spending projected to grow

Spending by the county, which had a 2006 population of 493,215, will grow 2.8 percent in 2008 and another 2.8 percent in 2009, according to the 2008-2009 Ramsey County Proposed Budget document. Additional monies, the document noted, will be set aside to “finance predictable life-cycle maintenance of buildings, grounds and road construction projects.”

Additional investments also are planned in 2008 and 2009 in the county’s new Emergency Communications Center. Municipalities in Ramsey County collaborated with county administrators to consolidate three dispatch centers into the new facility.

To download the current commodities list for Ramsey County, click here.