It’s encouraging to see the Saco City Council looking for ways to reduce waste and printing costs, but we’re not sure buying iPads is the way to go.

Councilors discussed purchasing the gadgets at their meeting this week, as a new paperless way to view agendas and related meeting documents.

Councilor Marston Lovell said that although there wouldn’t be any immediate savings, the use of iPads may result in some savings over time on paper costs and staff time.

While this is an ideal goal, iPads retail at $499 ”“ that’s close to a $3,500 expense to outfit the full board with iPads.

It may be a small number in budgetary terms, but it’s not necessarily the money that is the issue.

Some laptops retail for that amount of money ”“ or less ”“ and they come equipped with a keyboard and most of the software councilors would need to view documents. While iPads also come with some software, they are not equipped with a physical keyboard, only a touch-screen version, that some may find difficult to use.

Also, the light-weight tablets seem to be more prone to damage ”“ without the purchase of additional protective gear ”“ and are compatible with other Apple products, versus PCs, which mostly use Windows and are more widely used than Apple computers.

It is true that paper waste costs municipalities a lot of money, and it is bad for the environment, but we think councilors who already have computers or laptops could just opt to have digital copies of the agenda and related materials sent to their personal computers, and those who do not may be able to get one furnished by the city.

If the city moves forward with purchasing computers or tablets, we hope officials will do their research.

IPad is not the only tablet ”“ Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablet only costs about $250, while Amazon’s Kindle retails for about $200. Laptops have become quite affordable as well, with some in the $300 to $500 range.

It would also be unfortunate to see the city purchase equipment that may go unused, as some councilors said they prefer paper. If a councilor opts for a tablet/computer or to have their digital agenda sent to a home computer, they should not be able to double up and get the printed versions as well ”“ after all, the point of this proposal was to cut back on waste, paper costs and staff time dedicated to making copies.

Saco councilors should consider their options carefully and make a decision that will best benefit both the environment and taxpayers.