TRENTON — Hello? Anybody home? The state is spending $3.2 million a year on nearly 20,000 unused landlines and mobile phones, according to a comptroller report released Wednesday. That means about one of every six government phone lines isn’t needed. "Examples of government waste don’t get much clearer than that," Comptroller Matthew Boxer said. He said after cutting employees,...
New Jersey State Comptroller Matthew Boxer in a 2008 photo. TRENTON — Hello? Anybody home?
The state is spending $3.2 million a year on nearly 20,000 unused landlines and mobile phones, according to a comptroller report released Wednesday. That means about one of every six government phone lines isn’t needed.
"Examples of government waste don’t get much clearer than that," Comptroller Matthew Boxer said.
He said after cutting employees, agencies did not disconnect their phone lines.
"In the meantime, the state is paying for it," Boxer said. "After years of this system not being closely monitored, we’ve ended up with thousands of lines that are not being used."
One mobile phone was funded for nearly six years after an employee resigned. That’s one of the thousands of lines agencies have begun disconnecting in response to the audit.
Michael Drewniak, spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie, praised the comptroller for revealing "ridiculous" waste.
"It’s a symptom of what’s wrong with state operations in New Jersey," he said. "This is just the sort of waste and inefficiency that will not be allowed to continue."
New Jersey government has more than 100,000 landlines and another 19,000 wireless devices including cell phones and BlackBerries.
The audit of data from the Office of Information Technology found that no outgoing calls were made from 38,478 landlines during the last three months of 2009. Agencies are disconnecting 18,265 of those landlines. The other lines remain necessary, such as police hotlines and elevator phones, said Comptroller spokesman Pete McAleer.
Another 1,394 mobile phones have also been disconnected.
Agencies are supposed to report to the Office of Information Technology when phones are no longer needed. But Boxer said that hasn’t been done consistently, and the state needs to keep a closer eye on phone usage.
"There needs to be more aggressive action," he said.
Information Technology spokeswoman Shelley Bates said the office is reviewing the audit and plans to take a more proactive approach, including compiling quarterly reports analyzing which phones aren’t being used.
The Department of Law and Public Safety is disconnecting 3,743 unused phones, the most of any agency. Labor and Workforce Development is second with 2,807, followed by Health and Senior Services with 2,132.
Last year officials found similar waste in the parking system — the state was paying $700,000 for 450 parking spaces for ex-employees.
In another area of the audit released Wednesday, the comptroller said four telecommunications contracts have been renewed at least seven times without fair competition. Boxer said that breaks the law.
"Just like you can’t extend a contract to a vendor of choice, you cannot take an existing contract and extend it forever," he said. "It essentially becomes a no-bid contract."
Information Technology said that’s inaccurate. In a letter responding to the audit, the office said the state has sought competitive bids, negotiated discounts and lowered telecommunications costs by at least $12 million in the last three years.
McAleer said Information Technology never provided any documents to show a competitive process.
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