>The creation of the Office of Asset Recovery.
Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan today announced the creation of the Office of Asset Recovery. During last year’s campaign Ms. Donovan pledged to establish such an office “…to review fees paid to consultants and other vendors, investigate questionable payments and sue to collect moneys improperly paid by the County or any of its agencies.”
According to Ms. Donovan, “last year we pledged to reduce the cost to taxpayers by freezing County government spending, stopping governmental waste and recovering as much money as possible through a new, dedicated, office. Today’s announcement fulfills yet another commitment. We cut spending by $30 million in the proposed budget we inherited; we have cut waste in all areas including the elimination and sale of over 50 employee operated County cars and we have now created the Office of Asset Recovery.”
Ms. Donovan said that the new Office will function within the County’s Department of Law and will be self-sustaining. She said that while the Office will seek civil remedies “any criminal activity uncovered during our ongoing reviews will be immediately referred to local, state or federal authorities for criminal prosecution.”
“This is not a witch hunt,” Ms. Donovan said. “But it is clear to anyone who has followed County government spending practices that there have been excessive and sometimes redundant costs.”
She continued, “We plan to review and question construction costs, particularly change orders, which have driven costs beyond acceptable levels. And we plan to assess every purchase to make certain that the County got the full bang for its buck.”
Ms. Donovan concluded, “Not all government waste is the product of fraud and misconduct. Vendors and consultants make billing errors just like everyone else. While rooting out official misconduct, our Office of Asset Recovery will also welcome information regarding unintentional billing errors and work with the private interests involved to resolve those mistakes.”
