While municipalities, and the taxpayers that support them, are struggling to find ways to make capital improvements in this time of shrinking budget, Ms. Miller and the Associated Builders and Contractors are busy trying to confuse the public about the legal tools that municipalities use to keep costs down. The recent opinion piece about Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) by Ms. Miller in the RBJ is a classic example with little facts, but plenty of bluster.

First, despite Ms. Miller's opinion, it is illegal for any municipality to enter into a Project Labor Agreement that does not save taxpayers a significant amount of money. Before a municipality can enter into a PLA, an independent study must be conducted on the specific proposed project. If that independent study says that a PLA won't save taxpayers money, then no amount of political interest can make a municipality enter into a PLA.

Maybe that is why the recent PLA at the Crime Lab was approved unanimously by Republicans and Democrats alike in the often politically charged Monroe County Legislature. They came together to approve the PLA because the savings to taxpayer was clear. Is Ms. Miller accusing the entire legislature and County Executive Maggie Brooks of breaking the law?

Second, despite what Ms. Miller has led readers to believe, it is also illegal to circumvent competitive bidding laws for public projects in New York State . Any contractor, union or non-union, can bid on work under a PLA, and moreover, projects that are bid under a PLA often find that they have a greater number of bidders, union and non-union, than they would otherwise. In fact, a non-union contractor is building the new water treatment plant in Webster under a PLA right now. Has Ms. Miller even looked into what projects are being done locally under a PLA and who is performing them?

Finally, ignoring the fact that municipalities can't actually implement a PLA that doesn't save taxpayers money, and that independent, project-specific studies are used to verify this, Ms. Miller sights “Numerous third-party studies” that say PLA's raise the cost of a project roughly 18% and then drags out a discredited academic study to try to prove her point. Fortunately, everyone that is actually in the construction industry knows that labor only accounts for around 25% of any project's total cost. When it comes to construction, it looks like Ms. Miller's understanding of math is about as good as her understanding of New York State law.

However, Ms. Miller is correct when she says that come contractors are effectively excluded from working under a PLA. Those contractors that make their living by bringing in undocumented workers, cheating on their taxes or using substandard materials find it very difficult to do so under a PLA. Personally, I don't think those kind of contractors should be working on anything anywhere, but that is just my opinion, and on this Ms. Miller's opinion may legitimately differ.