Farmingville, NY – On April 1, the Town of Brookhaven’s Department of General Services, Division of Purchasing, launched its Municipal Market. The new feature on the Town’s website opens up the bid and RFP (Request for Proposal) process to allow increased transparency and accountability of Town contracts, pricing, vendor information, associated documents and more. The new page also includes an advanced “searchable” feature and easy-to-use online registration that makes the Municipal Market more convenient for the end user. It also allows for municipalities and districts (school, fire, ambulance, library, etc.) to “piggyback” on Brookhaven Town contracts and save money on goods and services. Pictured left to right are Councilman Dan Panico; Councilwoman Jane Bonner; Deputy Commissioner of General Services, Kathleen Koppenhoefer and Supervisor Ed Romaine.
Supervisor Romaine said, “This is a major step forward in the Town’s effort to save taxpayer dollars and increase transparency. I commend Deputy Commissioner Koppenhoefer and our Purchasing department for taking the lead on this project.”
Councilwoman Bonner said, “Our website is such a valuable resource and it’s just been made to be even more user friendly for anyone doing business with the Town. It’s another example of how we are sending the message out to our residents that Brookhaven Town government is working for you.”
Councilman Panico said, “The Town of Brookhaven is constantly looking to partner to cut costs for our taxpayers.”
The new Municipal Market was created as a result of the Town being awarded the $20 million Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Competition (MCEC) grant by New York State. This grant is designed to modernize and transform the delivery of services while lessening the burden on taxpayers by reducing redundancy in local governments, pursuing opportunities for increasing shared services, and implementing modernizations and best practices. The plan is expected to produce savings of more than $120 million for taxpayers over the next decade.
With the grant, the Town will undertake the following actions:
- Consolidation or dissolution of at least 24 Special Improvement Districts;
- Consolidation of tax collection services;
- Consolidation of Department of Public Works operations within the Villages;
- Consolidation of third-party billing for the nine Town Ambulance Districts;
- Establishment of a shared information technology platform for consolidated and cloud-based services and cyber-security;
- Town-wide records storage and archive management;
- Construction of a Truck Wash on the South Shore.
In addition, the grant will help to fund the modernization of the Town’s Land Management and Financial systems, automating many manually intensive tasks, leading to greater productivity and cost savings.
Division of Public Information * Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone 631-451-6595