**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
December 17, 2010
Contact: Aja Worthy-Davis at (212) 788-7081
Council Members Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Jumaane Williams, and Daniel Dromm Hold Press Conference To Condemn $80M Embezzlement of City Funds By Citytime ContractorsCall On Administration To Cease Outsourcing Municipal Jobs Without Proper Oversight of Contractors; Urges MTA To Reconsider $120M SAIC ContractNew York, NY— On Wednesday, December 15, 2010 four Citytime consultants were charged with embezzling $80Million from the City of New York through steering public funds to consulting firms who funneled the money to shell companies controlled by the consultants and their families. Ironically, Citytime is a timekeeping system used by some City agencies to monitor payroll fraud and abuse. Currently, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) is the main contractor for the Citytime timekeeping system.
Council Member Letitia James has been a long-time critic of the Citytime project, which has been rife with accusations of administration and management errors that have seen consultants such as the accused paid exuberant prices. In opposition to the operational mismanagement— as well as the ballooned cost of the project ($68 million projected at its onset to more than $738 million)— Council Member James joined Local 375-DC 37 the Civil Service Technical Guild at a press conference in September 2010 to call on a freeze to any further rolling-out of the project, and a full assessment to be performed on the project. Following the press conference, New York City Comptroller John Liu announced that an agreement had been reached with the administration to give SAIC a June 2011 deadline to complete original work on the project before receiving minimal funding for maintenance and support services.
Following yesterday’s events, Comptroller John Liu called for an emergency session of the Payroll Administration Board of Directors and further urged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to take care in selecting a SAIC as the final contractor for its new radio communications system.
“I applaud the federal prosecutors for this indictment, but it should not have taken this amount of time to expose,” said Council Member Letitia James. “The fact that this complex scam was able to take place under the radar of the administration is proof of just how out-of-control the greed of some consultants has become. It is time to stop using public funds to continue these poorly managed, poorly supervised private enterprises. The City must stop outsourcing jobs without having the resources or inclination to manage the contractors.”
“This scandal highlights the dangers of the Bloomberg administration’s over-reliance on private contracts,” said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. “The extent and duration of this embezzlement calls into question the administration’s commitment to truly scrutinize the private contractors and consultants that are getting rich off of taxpayer dollars. In the wake of this news, it is time that we examine these large contracts even more closely, instead of sitting back and waiting on the federal government to find other instances of corruption.”
"I am outraged that the money that was supposed to be going to consultants working with the CityTime project has been mishandled. It is ironic that a program dedicated to eliminate waste and fraud is the same program costing taxpayers millions of dollars. The Mayor has been fiscally irresponsible with these contracts from the beginning. The answer isn't in cutting city funding or programming, the answer lies in proper management of funds," said Council Member Jumaane Williams.
“CityTime is a waste of time,” said Council Member Daniel Dromm. From the very start since the Mayor first tried to implement it, CityTime has been a disaster with cost spiraling to almost $1 billion. Now we find out that, in fact, CityTime is rife with fraud. We need to get rid of CityTime and redirect the money towards saving jobs.”
WHEN: Friday, December 17, 2010
3:00PM
WHERE: steps of City Hall
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This is an NYPD sketch of a suspect wanted for a rape that occurred on December 12, 2010 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The suspect has been described to police as a black/African-American male between the ages of 25-30, around six feet, with a medium build and a dark complexion.
The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) provide personal and professional development through their leadership programs along with academic support throughout recipient's college career. Through the 2011 Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) scholarship, GMS will select 1,000 talented students to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at ANY college or university of their choice WITHIN THE US.
The Fort Greene Association (FGA) and the Brooklyn Music School (BMS) are asking you to donate your sealed, unused toiletry items for the families of Fort Greene’s Auburn Family Shelter. FGA and BMS are looking for tooth paste, mouth wash, soap, shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, perfume/cologne, lotion, baby products, hair and skin care products, etc. Any items you can donate are greatly appreciated. Their goal is to have enough items to distribute to 125 families of Fort Greene’s Auburn Family Shelter.
Through the Department of Education's multi-billion dollar Five-Year Capital Plan FY2010-2014, the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) is committed to providing contracting opportunities to minority-owned, woman-owned and local business enterprises (MWLBE).
Please join the Fort Greene Association for their holiday season party at-
New York City Council Member Letitia James joins New York State Senator Eric Adams and Council Member Jumaane Williams in presenting-
At yesterday's Stated Council meeting, Council Member Letitia James was pleased to re-introduce Int. 432-2010 into the City Council- the 'Family Leave for Private Employees Act' that would provide paid family leave to private employees. The legislation would establish that a private employer must provide paid family leave to an employee who is eligible to take unpaid leave pursuant to the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to care for persons covered by the federal law (note that recent amendments expanded this category). Any such employee would be entitled to a total of twelve weeks of paid family leave within an annual period.
Council Member Letitia James invites you to a 35th District Holiday Party!
WORLD AIDS Day 2010