By KENNETH BRYNIEN
Last month, at PEF’s annual delegate convention I laid out our successes as well as the challenges we, as public employees, will face. Much of what we have achieved and the challenges we face are the result of the state’s fiscal condition and declining tax revenues, and how the governor and Legislature have sought and will seek to address them.
While there are signs of improvement in the state’s economy, it is unlikely the tax revenues will rebound quickly enough to address deficits projected for the current and next fiscal year. As successful as we have been in preventing damaging cuts to the state work force and the services we provide, we will be tested even more in coming months as the governor works to close a projected budget gap for the current fiscal year of $2.1 billion and a gap of $4.6 billion in the next fiscal year.
A few days before the convention, I met with the governor and his budget director regarding the status of the state budget. They indicated they are open to suggestions of ways to close the budget gaps and assured me our suggestions will meet serious consideration.
Even as we continue to press the state to pursue cost savings through the elimination of wasteful contracting out, the state is far from realizing the maximum potential savings from that effort. While the state’s total consultant spending is down $2.9 million from the first quarter of last year, it is up by more than $13 million for information technology services and almost $11 million for engineering services, the two types of services that study after study has found our members can do at a significantly lower cost.
The overall reduction in consulting is a tiny fraction of the potential, and the continued growth in consulting for engineering and information technology shows more than an executive order is needed to break the state agencies of their addiction to consultants.
As part of a budget proposal to close current and future state budget gaps, PEF will seek the re-introduction and passage of our Go Public legislation requiring state agencies to conduct cost-benefit analysis before letting contracts to private companies for services that state employees could provide.
As great as the savings can be from reducing the state’s reliance on consultants, more savings will be needed to fully address the budget shortfall.
At our convention in Niagara Falls, I asked the delegates to write down and submit the ways they see their agencies wasting money. More than half the delegates responded. After review and analysis, I will send them to the governor and the state Division of Budget for their consideration.
You can help by submitting your suggestions as well. Just go online to the PEF Web site and click on the $ave The $tate box for reporting wasteful state spending or to make other suggestions for saving the state money.
You, our PEF members, provide New Yorkers the best value for their tax dollars. As the professionals who keep New York running, we know how the state can work better and smarter. We will fight to protect the services we provide, and on which millions of New Yorkers rely, from becoming casualties of the state’s continuing fiscal crisis.
