NYCHA sells millions dollars worth of unused supplies at a huge less (gained pennies on the dollar from the sale) (purchases)

[NyWriterdude]

"Olatoye was responding to a Daily News investigation published Wednesday that revealed NYCHA had quietly sold off boxes of unused supplies for pennies on the dollar. That included 110 leather Bond Street attaché cases she said were purchased by the authority in 2003. Still wrapped in plastic, the cases worth $79.99 each were sold online in November for $6.45 a pop."

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2131058

Just storing all those unused supplies is a waste of resources and space.

The new head of NYCHA got rid of the 14 procurement offices and now tracks purchases through one centralized system.

It's a shame there was all this waste, but at least with them selling these unused supplies at a loss for pennies on the dollar they aren't wasting resources on storage.

[bluedog2]

Very strange that there can be so much waste at a city agency while there are NYC schools where teachers have to supply toilet paper and other basic supplies out of their own pockets because there supposedly isn't enough money in the budget.

[Pruzhany]

This is not just a NYC issue, this happens from the city level all the way up to the federal level. An agency is given a budget and has to spend every penny of it by the end of the fiscal year. The current reality is that if they don't, the following years budget will be less. Thus when they actually do need something in the future, they want to make sure there will be funds to cover it. I can nearly guarantee that most of these surplus items were purchased in the last month of the fiscal year. In my experience the people in the linked article in the OP are simply talking heads. Having a "centralized office" changes nothing. All that means is that certain contracts have been made and certain vendors will be used.


as to the NYC school issue, all they did was move money from one column to another to deal with another item that they wanted. When an agency doesn't stick to their budget or an emergency expense comes up then usually a shortage occurs in the last quarter of the fiscal year. Keep in mind that the NYC infrastructure is old, so emergencies do come up pretty often that can't be budgeted to the penny for (then can estimate, but the expense may come out more than it).

[Bronxguyanese]

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

"Olatoye was responding to a Daily News investigation published Wednesday that revealed NYCHA had quietly sold off boxes of unused supplies for pennies on the dollar. That included 110 leather Bond Street attaché cases she said were purchased by the authority in 2003. Still wrapped in plastic, the cases worth $79.99 each were sold online in November for $6.45 a pop."

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2131058

Just storing all those unused supplies is a waste of resources and space.

The new head of NYCHA got rid of the 14 procurement offices and now tracks purchases through one centralized system.

It's a shame there was all this waste, but at least with them selling these unused supplies at a loss for pennies on the dollar they aren't wasting resources on storage.

Dude do you live under a rock? My I have a friend who is MTA worker and he tells me how the authority gets rid of shovels and snow salt to its workers or even sells it off.