Apr 11, 2008 7:17 pm US/Eastern
NYC Council To Eliminate Slush Funds From Budget
Special Interest Groups Will Have To Fill Out Formal Requests In Order To Be Considered For Money
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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City Comptroller William Thompson and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn could very well be opponents in the next mayoral election.
CBS
The New York City Council's budget practices are in for an overhaul, and that means no more slush funds for special interest groups. It also means groups will now have to compete for more funding.
There will be no more phantom funds in the City Council budget.
After days of controversy over a longtime Council practice of salting away money for unbudgeted needs, Speaker Christine Quinn now says that pot of money she controls will no longer be given out will nilly. Groups will have to file detailed RFP's – formal requests for the money – in order to be considered.
"The speaker's discretionary allocation fund is about $21 million to $25 million and every penny of that will now be given through a competitive merit-based, apolitical RFP process," Quinn said Friday.
"There has been and there will be more changes to what you might refer to as member items."
Quinn also wants to hire an independent compliance officer to monitor budget actions and to strengthen the requirements for awarding funds to local groups.
"It is not an understatement to say that what Speaker Quinn is doing today will revolutionize a part of the budget process," Councilman David Yassky, D-Brooklyn, said.
Added Gene Russianoff of NYPIRG: "They will increase the fairness and transparency of the process by which the Council allocates money."
Quinn intends to run for mayor, so does one of her chief critics, Comptroller William Thompson Jr. He says Quinn's actions are just a good first step.
"This has to be part of looking forward and a budget process that the public at least will be able to look at and have confidence in that," Thompson said. "The revelations for last week undermine confidence and are a breach of public trust."
But not all the Council members love Speaker Quinn's reforms. Councilman John Liu, D-Queens, said the reforms weaken the Council.
"It's amazing," Liu said. "How naked ambition to the mayoralty can result in the leader of the legislative body becoming the body's own worst enemy."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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