Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C – Batavia) is calling attention to a recent audit of state government that revealed hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful spending. The review of operational expenditures serves as further proof that Albany must focus its efforts on reducing the size and cost, while increasing the efficiency, of state government.

“It’s time that our legislative leaders finally get serious about reducing government waste and start putting taxpayers’ money to proper use,” said Hawley. “Taxes continue to rise year after year in an effort to support unnecessary spending by bloated bureaucracies. Western New Yorkers are tired of sending their hard-earned money to Albany just to see it spent on offices, supplies and projects that we don’t even need. I urge Governor Cuomo and the legislative leaders to treat the findings of this most recent audit as a sign that we can no longer wait to peel back the endless layers of government that have wasted New Yorkers’ tax dollars.”

The waste identified by the auditors included:

• A third of the state’s office space in New York City and Albany being vacant, even as the state continues adding new leases.
• Over 4,800 state-owned computer servers, whose storage space is, on average, half-empty, despite increasing purchases by Albany.
• More than 850 toll-free numbers belonging to state agencies, nearly half of which have not been used in months.
• Overlapping, wasteful purchases of items like pens, paper clips and printer cartridges, with some agencies paying drastically more than others for the same supplies.