By Joyce Kryszak
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Buffalo, NY – Now that the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority is no longer in hard control status they have a little free time on their hands. Control Board officials say they're using it to keep the Collins Administration honest about reported savings from Six Sigma.
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Lawmakers met with control board officials last week to begin firming up numbers before the mid-year budget hearings later this month. Lawmakers say some of the numbers attributed to Six Sigma are a little blurry.
County Executive Chris Collins wrote in a recent state association of counties publication that the county has saved at least forty million with Six Sigma. He pointed to savings in Social Services, Probation and Mental Health. But Legislator Bob Reynolds says there's no evidence of it on any budget line.
Reynolds is not the only one who wants the reported savings verified. Control Board executive Director Ken Vetter says they've already started a review.
About $1 million in efficiency grants were approved by the control board to implement the business reform model. Vetter says they've been meeting with the administration comparing reported savings with actual expenses. He says their findings will be presented in late July.