Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake punched back today, releasing the costs of 80 Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phones – including six devices with video cameras – saying they amounted to less than $21,000, not $659,000 as charged by City Comptroller Joan Pratt.

Pratt made headlines on Wednesday by accusing the mayor’s technology office – and Rawlings-Blake personally – with violating the City Charter and circumventing bidding rules by setting up the pilot project using Cisco phones supplied by technology contractor Digicon Corp.

The allegations and background to the dispute are described here.

After publicly calling into question the role of Rawlings-Blake and her former technology czar, Rico Singleton, Pratt has refused to talk to the media or make available documents supporting her claims.

Today Ryan O’Doherty, the mayor’s spokesman, said Rawlings-Blake welcomes a preliminary review of the Digicon contract announced by Inspector General David McClintock.

Here is the cost breakdown of the phones and accessories, according to the mayor’s office:

Qty	Item	Unit Cost	Total Cost
2	Cordless Phones	$    381.52	$          763.04
49	2-Button Phones	$    209.13	$     10,247.37
2	2-Button Color Phones	$    262.83	$          525.66
20	6-Button Phones	$    237.39	$       4,747.80
6	Color Phones with Video Camera	$    562.39	$       3,374.34
2	Batteries	$      53.70	$          107.40
1	Power Supply	$      25.43	$            25.43
1	Phone Expansion Module	$    279.78	$          279.78
1	Conference Phone	$    731.96	$          731.96
Grand Total			$       20,802.78