The iPad may be magical, but do you want your taxes to pay for city councilors to have them?
That’s what citizens in Leicester, England wonder after the local council there drew up plans to provide all 54 city councilors with Apple’s tablet device.
Equipping all of the local politicos with iPads by May 2011 will cost around £40,000 or about $63,000 for the 64 gigabyte models, sparking critics who note that the council is spending for shiny gadgets when it has to cut some 1,000 jobs due to budget issues.
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Four councilors have them on trial so far and say the iPads are helping them save time and money.
Conservative group leader Ross Grant, one of the iPad guinea pig politicians, told the Telegraph that the device is making him ”more productive.”
”Whenever a constituent stops me in the street I can write down and begin researching their problem immediately on the iPad, because I’m connected to the internet right around the city.”
”Also when I’m in key meetings I’ve asked for council agendas to be e-mailed as PDF files to the iPad so I no longer need printed documents. This could save the council money in the long term.”
Going paperless with the iPad could save the council big bucks, according to some.
”If it can replace costly printing, then the council could potentially save £90,000 each year,” said labor councilor Sarah Russell, who has yet to try the iPad out. “I have a laptop but it is quite heavy, meaning it is awkward to take to several meetings in a day. It also has to be charged much more regularly than an iPad.”
While some applaud the time and cost saving measures, some say it’s bad timing.
Matthew Sinclair, Research Director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It is right that the council should try to avoid wasting paper where they can. “But incredible that they think that means providing councilors with flash new iPads at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.”
So, where do you stand on the iPad for government issue?
Via The Telegraph
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
15 responses to “Should Your City Councilor Have an iPad?”
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