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Government Inefficient, Says Deputy Mayor for Operations


By

Jaya Saxena

Published Jul 20, 2010

Modified Jul 20, 2010


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By

Jaya Saxena

Published Jul 20, 2010

Modified Jul 20, 2010


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At least new Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith is doing his job. Just a few months after being hired by the Bloomberg Administration, Goldsmith has discovered that the city is extremely inefficient! He has found at least $500 million a year worth of wasteful spending, including paying for an outdated time sheet system and at least 8,000 unused desks.

The findings inspired Mayor Bloomberg to announce a plan to "consolidate and modernize" the city government, saving $500 million a year over the next four years. Goldsmith said in a press release, "By taking a coordinated approach, we can root out administrative inefficiencies across City government—reducing costs and delivering a better product to the taxpayers."

The new initiative would shrink the city's money-sucking HR departments and consolidate sprawling office space, about 400,000 square feet of which is not being used. But city officials say it's not as bad as it sounds. One told the Post, "It's not like there was an entire floor with empty desks." Bloomberg also explained why the city needs to spend money to create an automated time sheet system. He said, "Each timesheet has to be delivered in a squad car with two officers in it to 1 Police Plaza. The error rate [on the timesheets] is about 30 percent. Then the mistakes have to be driven back to the precinct, corrected, and then driven back to 1 Police Plaza." As stupid as it sounds, the inefficiency was at least keeping some people employed; Goldsmith says the consolidation will result in about 3,000 layoffs.

Tagged

consolidation

inefficient

mayor bloomberg

spending

stephen goldsmith


Jaya Saxena

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