School Construction Corp Cutting Costs

Enlighten-NewJersey reports on School Construction Corp's cost "cutting." According to a Newsday article, NJSCC has approved a budget of $34.6 million.

Let's put this in perspective. Assume that its workers are paid an even $20/hour and work normal 40-hour weeks. Factor in the cost of benefits and employer "contributions" to social security and it costs NJSCC just shy of $60,000 per employee. Apply this rate to the operating budget, and you come up with about 584 people on the company payroll.

There are 55 school districts covered by the full range of NJSCC services (30 Abbot districts and 25 receiving 55% or more in state aid), so each of these districts benefits from the services of about 10 state employees focused solely on the development and completion of construction projects.

Given that there are 168 projects currently under review, it would appear that these service "providers" have found plenty of work to keep themselves busy, and thus justifying their future employment. This is a self-licking ice cream cone. They will continue finding things to do with this money, which is supposed to go toward actual school construction. Instead, they spend it on things like making sure that all contractors have apprenticeship programs, employ the "correct" number of the appropriate groups of people, and producing such enlightening material as the Diversity Digest.

Stop by the NJSCC web site, and take a look at what your $34.6 million buys for you.