Big pay disparities between consultants, PEF members
Contract Disclosure Law reveals waste
By SHERRY HALBROOK
The Contract Disclosure Law is now bearing fruit with the first annual reports
by state agencies of the number and cost of their private contractors.
The law was passed and signed in 2005, following years of effort by PEF to get a
state law requiring that disclosure.
The Office of the State Comptroller has issued a report based on actual contract
expenditures over the last three quarters of the state fiscal year 2006-07.
“This data shows clearly which agencies are the big spenders when it comes to
private contracts and it provides a window for all New Yorkers to see just how
many people are working under those contracts and how much that’s costing on
average per hour,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. “It’s also clear these
private consultants are no bargain for New York taxpayers.
“PEF members made a big investment of their own in our
Go Public
campaign to get this law and other accountability legislation passed,” Brynien
added. “We should all take satisfaction in seeing this data and knowing that it
would still be unreported if our members and leaders had not been willing to
fight for it.”
According to Tom Cetrino, director of PEF’s Department of Civil Service
Enforcement which reviewed the reported data, much of the contracting was for
information technology services – services that usually could be provided
in-house at far less cost by PEF members, either at the state Office for
Technology or at the individual agencies awarding the contracts.
“Those services would cost taxpayers an average of $55 to $70 per hour, all
benefits included, if the work were done by state employees,” Cetrino said.
“State agencies have been paying contractors two to three times more than that.
“Our review of the data (eliminating the state Division of Budget, Governor’s
Office of Employee Relations and the Department of Civil Service where PEF has
no members) shows the following top 10 spenders by average hourly cost:”
1. Insurance Department: $184.29
2. Alcoholic Beverage Control: $173.88
3. Real Property Services: $169.55
4. Department of State: $167.83
5. Regulatory Reform: $161.03
6. Public Service Department: $140.97
7. Higher Educational Services Corp: $132.52
8. Workers’ Compensation Board: $111.32
9. Criminal Justice Services: $110.27 and
10. Temporary and Disability
Assistance: $95.23.
“The comptroller and the state Department of Civil Service have also issued two
additional public reports on the use of contractors,” Cetrino said. “We are
reviewing that data too and will continue to announce what we find.”
“PEF will watch closely to see if the new state administration is able to shift
away from this high cost habit of dependence on private consultants as the
existing contracts run out over the next few years,” Brynien said.
