Report: City's 911 fix bilked taxpayers

The city's attempt to improve the 911 system has resulted in a multimillion-dollar disaster, an audit released by the city comptroller Wednesday said.

Comptroller John Liu's report says Hewlett-Packard was unqualified to streamline the 911 systems and it caused the project to go a billion dollars over budget. The problems have cost taxpayers $163 million, according to Liu.

"We have long feared that CityTime [a 2005 scandal] was not an isolated incident, and unfortunately what we have learned today is that our fear has become a reality," he said in a statement.

In 2005, the city hired HP to streamline the city's 911 system to improve dispatches to first responders. The audit found HP allegedly overbilled the city with questionable timesheets.

The mayor's office disagreed with the audit, contending there were no overruns.

"The HP work is complete and came in $34 million under the budget registered by the Comptroller's Office," the mayor's office said in a statement.

Nonetheless, Liu has referred the audit to the Manhattan district attorney.

HP did not return phone calls for comment by press time.