Gloucester County is launching a new phone system, which is expected to save taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a year.

The county’s Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system will provide features such as voice mail, caller ID, call forwarding, call roll-over, auto attendants and voice mail to e-mail at no extra cost, according to county information technology director Scott Varner. All county phone numbers will remain the same.

"With regular landlines, you had to pay extra for each feature and several of the features (with this system) aren’t available with traditional landlines," Varner said. "There is also a desktop application that interfaces with the phone system, which allows the users to make calls from their desktops."

The project, which was recommended by the county’s Capital Improvement Plan Advisory Committee, was budgeted at $270,000, though Varner expects the system’s price tag to come in under budget.

Previously, the county was payi...