Cut Waste Through a Full City Audit
Orlondo at Schenectady City Council Meeting
Why This Matters
Schenectady residents work hard for every dollar they earn and every tax dollar they pay should work just as hard for them. Right now, too much public money is lost to redundant contracts, unnecessary consultants, and inefficient authority arrangements that exist because no one is incentivized to question them.
This isn’t accidental.
Complexity protects waste. Fragmentation hides accountability. And a system that benefits insiders rarely fixes itself.
The Policy: A Full, Independent City Audit
We will conduct a comprehensive, line-by-line audit of all city spending, including:
City departments
Public authorities and quasi-public entities
Outside vendors and consulting contracts
Inter-agency agreements and overlapping services
The goal is simple: find waste, end it, and redirect savings to residents.
What We Will Eliminate
1. Redundant Contracts
Multiple vendors doing similar work across departments drive up costs and reduce oversight. We will consolidate services where possible and end duplicative agreements.
2. Unnecessary Consultants
Consultants are often used to avoid building internal capacity—at a premium price. If a function is ongoing, it should be done in-house by city employees who are accountable to the public.
3. Inefficient Authority Arrangements
Public authorities and special entities too often operate with limited transparency while handling millions in public funds. We will review their structure, spending, and necessity—and restructure or dissolve arrangements that do not clearly serve the public interest.
How Accountability Will Work
Audit results will be public and easy to understand
Contracts will be reviewed on performance, cost, and necessity
Departments will be required to justify spending—not residents
Savings will be tracked and reported annually
What Happens to the Savings
Money recovered from waste will be reinvested directly into:
Lowering the pressure on property taxes
Core services like infrastructure, public safety, and housing
Local hiring and workforce development
Community-based solutions instead of outsourced ones
The Difference
Some politicians benefit from a system where money quietly leaks out through contracts, consultants, and authorities. Fixing that system would reduce their leverage, their favors, and their control.
This policy does the opposite.
It puts power back with the public, treats tax dollars as sacred, and runs City Hall with the same discipline families and small businesses are forced to live by every day.
Bottom Line
Cutting waste isn’t about austerity it’s about service to our community.
Respect for workers.
Respect for residents.
Respect for Schenectady.
A full city audit is how we start Chenecting and fixing what others profit from ignoring.