Comptroller: Cut Use Of Contractors And Boost Worker Skills

City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. Oct. 21 urged the Bloomberg administration to reduce spending on outside contractors and use part of the savings to provide added training to city employees.

WILLIAM C. THOMPSON: Invest in infrastructure.

Speaking to a business-oriented audience at a breakfast sponsored by Crain's, Mr. Thompson said that as the custodian and investment adviser to all five city pension systems, he had begun talking to the funds' trustees about using the systems' money for infrastructure projects here.

Doing Well At Both Ends

"Such an investment could help to further diversify our portfolio and fulfill our fiduciary goals in terms of return on investment, while addressing the urgent need to repair and expand our roads, bridges, power plants and schools," he told his audience.

He said that during fiscal year 2008, which for the city concluded June 30, $31 million was spent on information technology consultants. Improved training of city staff could reap large savings doing much of that work in-house, Mr. Thompson contended.

While his auditors have uncovered more than a quarter-billion dollars in potential and actual savings for the city, he said he lacks the staff and the resources "to comb through every line of spending at every agency. That is why I am proposing that, going forward, each agency commissioner should be required to produce an annual efficiency report."

Obscuring Agency Flaws?

Mr. Thompson, who plans to run for Mayor next year, lamented that Mayor Bloomberg in 2007 removed detailed agency statistics from the city's Web site, which "prevents independent analysts from evaluating performance, and limits the ability of the public to assess the impact of budget cuts on city services."

Questioning the Mayor's priorities in forcing extended focus on term limits because of a desire to keep his job, the Comptroller stated, "City leaders should be discussing how we confront the challenges to our economy, and how best to protect our jobs, our businesses and our ability to compete."

A call to the Mayor's Press Office seeking a response was not returned.

Mr. Thompson said the troubles wracking the financial industry had produced "a seismic shift in our local economy. If the bursting of the dot-com and credit bubbles has taught us anything, it is that New York City's growth and economic prosperity must be tied not to short-term booms in isolated industries, but to a commitment to fundamental priorities that can withstand the highs and lows of financial markets."