Daily Mail: The EPA has spent $92million on office furniture over the past decade, about $6,000 for each of the agency's 15,500 employees Money10

 
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  • The Environmental Protection Agency spent $92.4 million on purchasing, leasing, renting, storing and moving pieces of upscale office furniture
  • Includes $4,047 Herman Miller chair, $813 pencil holder and $5,539 table
  • Paid $73,265 to move furniture from Michigan office to replace carpeting
  • Agency said purchases provided opportunity to obtain 'space efficiencies'
 
PUBLISHED: 14:24 EST, 25 September 2015 | UPDATED: 15:09 EST, 25 September 2015
 
The Environmental Protection Agency spent $92.4million on purchasing, leasing, renting, storing and moving pieces of upscale office furniture over the last decade, a watchdog group has reported. 
 
Highlights of the purchases include a $5,539 hexagonal table, a $2,641 Galerie lounge chair and settee, a $4,047 Herman Miller chair and a pencil holder that cost $813.
 
In addition to the pricey purchases, the EPA also spent $73,265 on moving office furniture in Ann Arbor, Michigan, so that new carpet could be installed in a building containing an agency office. 
 
 
The $92.4million in furniture expenditures equates to spending about $6,000 for each one of the EPA's 15,475 disclosed employees, according to analysis from OpenTheBooks.com.
 
The bulk of that spending, $48.4million, was on products from high-end retailer Herman Miller.
 
The 100-year-old-plus company 'places great importance on design, the environment, community service, and the health of our customers' and it had approximately $1.8billion in sales in 2013.
 
The EPA also spent $5million on modern furnishings from Knoll, the Washington Times reported.  
 
OpenTheBooks founder Adam Andrzejewski said: 'While private companies and citizens face more and more hardship from government regulation, the EPA literally sits in the easy chair.
 
'The EPA can't relate to the financial hardships regular Americans face.
 
'It's Herman Miller furniture for the bureaucrats, but Ikea for the taxpayers.'
 
The EPA defended its spending and said many of its offices had to move in the last ten years.
 
The agency said: 'New furniture purchases provided the agency the opportunity to obtain space efficiencies.'
 
The agency was previously criticized in 2003 for spending too much on furniture following a report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
 
Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union, said: 'Apparently the long arm of the regulatory state needs a lot of comfortable chairs and desks to rest its collective elbow on, and EPA's 'elbow-print' is a big one.'
 
Original Article here
 
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