Philadelphia city controller catches $1.2 million of contractor overcharges

Philadelphia’s city controller’s office says by auditing contracts in detail, his office has saved the city more than a million dollars. 

Philadelphia Controller Alan Butkovitz says his technical department has come up with a new process to catch contractors who are charging more than their contract allows or those billing for services they failed to provide.

“The city has to get a dollar’s value for a dollar expended and the process begins at the time of the signing of the contract and it goes on to the conclusion of the contract,” he said.

Butkovitz says the checklist-driven process has produced $1.2 million in savings.  Half came from denied overcharges at Philadelphia International Airport.

“Most of those savings were because contractors charged labor rates that were too high under the contract and they charged for equipment or tools that were not supposed to be billed as part of the original contract,” he said.

Butkovitz says his team found the million dollars plus by analyzing $275 million worth of contracts.