Taxpayers too often are being kept in the dark about details of contracts with public employee unions such as one involving Utica’s teachers, according to a new report from a government watchdog group.

By the time school districts or municipalities ratify these contracts and release details, it’s too late for details to be studied, debated or altered, according to the report.

This secrecy and lack of public oversight on issues including salary and benefits “inevitably leads to more costly and less efficient government,” said report author Lise Bang-Jensen of the Empire Center for Public Policy.

“They’re committing so much money, and the public doesn’t really know how much it’s going to cost,” Bang-Jensen said.

The report by the Albany-based group cited the Utica City School District’s contract with its teachers’ union, which was ratified in September. The school district and teacher’s union refused to release details of the tentative contract until the Board of Education approved it.

Bang-Jensen said the Observer-Dispatch’s reporting on the secrecy involving the contract was a “major inspiration for the report.”

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