The Marshall County Purdue Extension Office’s purchase of a used copier a couple years ago is leading to some big repair bills now.
County Extension Director Karen Richey told the county council Monday that her office had just made over $200 in repairs in December, when it stopped working again on January 25. “Repairman came down and said, ‘There’s no way it’ll work unless you replace two out of these four [parts], which probably the other two will also go.’ At that time, I was on campus at Purdue, so the secretaries went ahead and just said, ‘Let’s get it fixed because we have to have the copier.’ When we got the bill, the bill was for $1,139,” Richey said. That’s not including the $180 service charge.
However, the extension office only has about $227 left in its repair budget. Richey said the county bought the copier for about $8,000 in 2015, after the county council at the time opted against buying a brand new one. She adds that a maintenance contract was unavailable because of the copier’s age.
For now, council members recommended that Richey request an additional appropriation of $1,300 to help cover the repair bill. The council would formally consider that request at a future meeting.
Meanwhile, they’ll think about a new copier when the other two parts go out.
