News from
Deputy Majority Leader Senator Jeff Klein
From the Desk of State Senator Jeff Klein…
Fighting for Responsible Spending of Your Tax Dollars
Dear Reader:
Throughout this state budget season and beyond, my goal is clear – to protect your money. In an effort to ensure your hard-earned tax dollars are being spent wisely, my office has spent the past several months investigating the issue of government waste. We started by focusing on areas we suspected to be major culprits of inefficiency at state agencies – notably, overtime pay and excessive or duplicative administrative costs. What we found was the appearance of shocking mismanagement and wasteful spending practices at two of our state’s largest entities – the state university system (SUNY), and the NYS Department of Correctional Services (DOCS).
In our latest report, issued in late April, my office, in coordination with the newly launched Senate Task Force on Government Efficiency which I chair, has once again identified massive instances of wasteful spending and inefficiency at a state agency – this time, the Department of Transportation (DOT). We’ve uncovered nearly $60 million in potential cost savings at DOT, and more than $210 million in what we believe to be already wasted taxpayer dollars. It’s very clear that it’s time for DOT to get smart about spending and stop throwing money out the window.
For example, when it comes to money already squandered by DOT, we found approximately $27 million that the state spent to replace existing construction signs that were perfectly fine. These signs met federal highway safety administration standards, but over the past three years, DOT chose to replace 2.7 million of these signs across the state. This begs the question of why DOT would choose to make such an expensive change during these increasingly tough economic times, when it makes absolutely no difference in keeping New Yorkers any safer on the highway.
This week, we held a hearing in Albany with DOT officials to ask them this question and many others. The Task Force also recently launched a new webpage where New Yorkers can anonymously submit their ideas, suggestions and feedback on how the state can conserve resources in this tough fiscal time, as well as to report any suspected wasteful government spending or abuse of tax dollars. I strongly encourage you to submit your suggestions so that we may root out and examine the appearance of waste and ensure that moving forward your tax dollars are being well spent.
http://www.nysenate.gov/committee/task-force-government-efficiency
Jeff Klein
Deputy Majority Leader
New York State Senate
34th District