State Comptroller Nancy Wyman announced today that reforms aimed at making prompt payments to vendors doing business with the state have resulted in success. Over 93 percent of the state's payments to vendors were made within the statutory 45 days in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, and the number of late payments has been cut nearly in half. Vendor payments for the fiscal year 1995-96 totaled 648,664; payments made after the 45-day period totaled about 32,121, down from 62,185 the previous year.

Reforms targeting late payments began in 1993 and continue to be enhanced by Wyman's office. "The state uses the products and services of over 70,000 vendors," Wyman said. "Paying our Connecticut businesses on time is extremely important. These reforms improve our own efficiency while at the same time remaining sensitive to our vendors' cash flow concerns."

State law requires that the state pay bills within 45 days. A multi-agency team tackled the problem of late payments, and later concentrated on agencies that had the hardest time getting their paperwork in on time. Some of these agencies made dramatic improvements: one governmental unit went from 44 percent to 99 percent on-time payments in three years and another from 37 percent to 90 percent in the same period, Wyman said. "Staff members in state agencies have taken this effort very seriously and I applaud them for it," Wyman said.

"We've had a lot of positive feedback from vendors as well as agencies on this effort, and I'm proud of my staff for the work they've done," Wyman said.

Wyman said she would continue to work for even greater improvement in timely payments, especially by converting agencies from time-consuming paper bill-paying to paperless processing.

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For Immediate Release
September 25, 1996
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