Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson (D-Rochester/Chili/Henrietta) announced that the Assembly’s 2017-18 state budget proposal includes a measure he’s been fighting for to rein in state spending. The proposal requires state agencies to do a cost analysis comparison to determine if a task contracted to outside consultants could be done more cost-effectively by state workers.

“Taxpayers deserve the biggest bang for their buck,” said Bronson. “Wasteful spending through outside contractors has allowed millions of dollars to go misused.”

The Assembly budget proposal sets forth conditions that mandates state agencies research and determine if a project could be handled more cheaply by state workers before entering into contracts that cost more than $750,000 over a 12-month period. Exemptions to the policy allow consultants to be used if savings are less than 10 percent, are not feasible or will diminish the quality of service.

The state of New York spends more than $2 billion per year on consultants. In many cases, the cost of a consultant is substantially higher and could be performed by a skilled, professional state employee, Bronson noted.