Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) said she plans to propose a revision to the county’s contracting process to remove a stipulation allowing personal service contracts worth less than $25,000 to automatically pass without legislative approval.
The need for the revision, DeRiggi-Whitton said, was brought to light following a recent Newsday investigation that found the Legislature awarded $9.5 million in contracts from January to June 2011 worth $24,000-$25,000 apiece without oversight, and $500,000 in contracts in that same period worth $25,000 to $26,000 that were reviewed.
“The people of Nassau County have every right to question why millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on political insiders, rather than services that Long Islanders need,” said DeRiggi-Whitton, whose 11th legislative district covers portions of Roslyn and Manhasset, among others. “It is time to ban these no-bid, no-review contracts going to politically-connected insiders and companies at the expense of those that live, work and pay taxes in our community.”
Newsday’s investigation was sparked by a federal indictment of state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who allegedly used his political power as the state Senate’s former majority leader to attain contracts, jobs, salaries and benefits for his son Adam.
DeRiggi-Whitton also said the county should eliminate the practice of automatically adopting contracts that are not reviewed within 45 days.
“We need to take immediate steps to ensure taxpayer dollars are not being spent without legislative oversight. Taxpayers deserve better,” she said. “Any loopholes enable waste and abuse and need to be closed.”
