Colby Hamilton

(Courtesy of the Sierra Club)

The Sierra Club announced this morning that Mayor Bloomberg's charitable arm is donating $50 million to the environmental groups "Beyond Coal" campaign to shut down a third of America's coal fleet by 2020.

(Courtsey of the borough president's Flickr account.)

Citing a $1.3 million discrepancy between the most and least funded council districts through a process described as murky and subjecting, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer released a report calling for a complete overhaul of how New York City Council members receive discretionary funding for their districts.

"I know people are going to be upset with this proposal but we can't keep putting our head in the sand," Stringer said on a conference call with reporters. The Manhattan borough president is seen as a likely candidate for mayor in 2013, as is City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

City councilmembers and the borough presidents are given these discretionary funds each year during the budget process. These funds are primarily spent on constituent services through non-profits and other groups. While the distribution of the funds by individual councilmembers has at times been the subject of controversy, the borough president’s report focused on which members were getting what, pointing to what the report described as “too often based on a member’s political standing within the Council.”

"The member items are used by the speaker as an instrument of power," explained Doug Muzzio, political science professor at Baruch College and an expert on city government. "You reward your friends and you screw your enemies." Reforming member items as Stringer is suggesting would be, in essence, curtailing the power of the speaker of the city council—currently Christine Quinn.

Specifically, the report called for replacing the current, speaker-based system with one that would have the mayor’s office allotting the money evenly, or on a more transparent process that took the needs of the districts’ constituents into account. Currently, $49.6 million in funding is divided among the council’s 51 members. If the report’s recommendation were implemented, it would likely mean even more power in the hands of the mayor, at the expense of the council’s speaker, and potentially the council itself.

Quinn’s office released a statement through Maria Alvarado, the council’s press secretary, saying they were reviewing the report and were “proud of the budget reforms the Council has already implemented that increase transparency and accountability—including an online database that the Borough President has embraced today.”

The borough president’s report highlighted the significant difference between the council members. For example, Brooklyn Councilmember Domenic Recchia received the most funding during the budget process--$1,630,064 to be exact. This is more than four times as much as either Bronx councilmembers Larry Seabrook or Helen Foster received. Their districts are some of the poorest in the city. The report’s figures are based on reviewing the past four years of available data.

"I agree with Borough President Scott Stringer that District budget allocations should be based on the needs of each district," Seabrook said in a statement. "City Council Speaker Christine Quinn decides on the budget allocations for each district and I certainly hope that next year’s decision for my district is a more favorable one."

“The players at the table get more,” Foster said about the current system. “It’s not based on fairness at all. I don't know that there is any system in politics that is based on need." While she made it clear she was not in favor of any reform that took power away from the council in favor of the mayor, Foster agreed with Seabrook, that the system should be taking some level of need into account.

"The disparities should not be so great," she said.

The map below illustrates just how removed from a standardized system the process is. When the districts for the five lowest and highest receivers of total funds are put on a map, it turns out that three of the highest receivers are directly next to or one district away from all but one of the least funded districts.

NYC City Council "Member Item" distribution for fiscal year 2012.
Top five district allocations are in green, bottom five are in red.
Source: Office of Mannhattan Borough President Scott Stringer

(Courtesy of the Comptroller's office)

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office delivered some good news this morning: taxes have come in almost $800 million above what was expected during the recently ended 2011-2012 fiscal year. But he warned in a press release not too be too optimistic.

“Revenue collections in the first quarter were strong, but our fiscal health is tenuous,” DiNapoli said. He continued:

We received the last of the significant federal stimulus funding in June, and the temporary PIT surcharge ends in the third quarter this year. The federal debt limit crisis, weakness in the housing market, and international financial and political instability continue to pose threats to the recovery. The Blue Chip consensus economic forecasts for growth continue to be revised downward. State leaders need to focus on diversifying our economic base, creating jobs, and rebuilding reserves to prepare the state for any fiscal difficulties ahead.

Both personal income and business taxes rose, with the later up 32 percent from last year. Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos chimed in with a press release echoing the comptroller's cautionary tone.

"Today’s report by Comptroller DiNapoli, showing that tax collections for the first quarter of the State’s Fiscal Year have far outpaced recent estimates, is encouraging, and we must continue to monitor this situation over the next six months," Skelos said in a release. If the savings continue, he said, state government should focus on cutting taxes to individuals and businesses.

We've got a new home on Twitter, so be sure to follow us for the latest news from across the city and state.

@TheEmpireBlog

(Courtesy of the mayors office)

Mayor Bloomberg may soon be known as the mayor that brought the first high-tech applied sciences campus to New York City. Today was a big step in that direction, as the mayor announced the start of a bidding process that will give the winner city land and up to $100 million in infrastructure subsidies to build the campus.

“New York City has a history of planning for and investing in its future to ensure it will be brighter than its past. Today, we are looking far into the future once again, and launching one of most promising economic development initiatives in the City’s long history,” Bloomberg said in a press release.

This is the latest--and biggest--move on behalf of the city to help the burgeoning tech field as part of a larger, post-recession drive to diversify the city's economy. The city has already created a number of business incubators with partners such as NYU-Polytech.

The bidding process is expected to be finished by the end of 2011. Construction on one of three sites--the Navy Hospital Campus at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Goldwater Hospital Campus on Roosevelt Island, or on Governors Island--would begin in 2015. The new whole process is expected to generate $6 billion in economic activity, hundreds of new companies and tens of thousands of jobs over the next 35 years.

The press release from the mayor's office:

261-11 (Applied Sciences Campus RFP)

  (Courtesy of the Comptroller's office)

The state comptroller's office released an audit that found the state agency could not justify $1.18 billion in contracts, saying millions of dollars in savings are being missed out on.

"When it comes to being transparent with taxpayers, the Port Authority is falling down on the job," DiNapoli said in a release. "Our audit found that the Port Authority's business model is zero growth in personnel, but they achieve that by contracting with outside consultants on a permanent basis. The PA needs to do a top to bottom review of how they manage headcount so they can show taxpayers they are getting the best services at the lowest cost. This agency needs much more transparency and accountability."

The crux of the issue is the Port Authority's use of contractors to keep with a directive of no additional hiring. The contractors aren't on the authority's payroll, technically, but the move, according to the comptroller, is costing tax payers. The Port Authority was unable to show auditors a paper trail of why contractors deserved as much as they were charging. From the report:

Department officials could not justify the need for 25 of 30 Service Contracts worth a total of $785.1 million that were sampled in the audit. PA Bus Terminal authorities informed auditors that PA management did not require them to substantiate a six-year, $27.5 million cleaning contract even though it was based on an assessment completed in 1980. In another case, the PA entered into a three-year $1.2 million contract for an electrical contract to change light bulbs and ballasts. No support was provided to show that this was more cost-effective than using Port Authority staff to perform these tasks.

Some Port Authority officials told auditors that even when cost analyses indicate the addition of in-house staff would be more cost-effective, requests to do so would most likely be turned down. As a result, the Port Authority relies extensively on a permanent workforce of contractors for essential services over the course of multiple years.

You can view a copy of the actual audit here.

Today at noon, It's A Free Country hosts an all-star local politics chat online. Join in to talk about Andrew Cuomo's first six months. It's also your chance to meet WNYC's new politics blogger Colby Hamilton, the man behind The Empire.

Celeste Katz of the Daily News and Azi Paybarah of the Observer's Politicker NY blog will join me at the It's A Free Country team to discuss Cuomo at six months, the past legislative session, the special elections across the state, and more:

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/its-free-country/2011/jul/19/twelve-oclock-tuesdays-local-blogger-roundtable/

This past weekend showcased another win for Governor Andrew Cuomo. Even when the legislature's out of session the governor continues to pick up pieces of his agenda. The latest victory was the signing of a five-year deal with the state's second largest public employee union, the Professional Employees Federation that the governor's office estimated would save the state $400 million.

Governor Cuomo made it clear last week that he intends to make pension reform one of his top priorities for the coming legislative session. Last week, Mayor Bloomberg's office made the case for pension reform, despite the city's comptroller's disagreement on the pressing nature of pensions reform. The fact that the city's top money counter's opinion has little to no affect on the mayor's push for changes to the pension system is an indicator of how strong the mayor and governor's position is.

NYPIRG's Bill Mahoney continues to crunch the recent financial disclosure reports:

While disclosure reports for eight active committees controlled by senators have yet to appear online, the recent arrival of the DSCC’s housekeeping committee means that some general trends can be noted. Republican candidates and their conference committee ($6,619,296.70) raised more than three times as much as Democrats ($2,172,168.86).   Democrats, however, spent more ($2,818,717.30) than Republicans ($2,187,133.82).  Republicans have $10,568,859.83 in the bank; Democrats have $4,254,488.47, but their party committee’s debt load means that their actual balance is closer to $1,915,520.94.

The three Independent Democratic Conference members who have filed with the state board of elections reported raising $695,572.59--of which Mayor Michael Bloomberg provided $30,900.

We're still waiting on the filings of Senators Flanagan, Dilan, Sampson, Parker, Diaz, Carlucci, Seward, and Ball. Check out NYPIRG's breakdown below.

Senate Breakdown, July 2011

Governor Andrew Cuomo's office and Public Employees Federation leadership reached a tentative deal on Saturday to avert thousands of layoffs, while saving the state $400 million over the course of the contract, the governor's office reported on Saturday.

"This agreement reflects the financial reality of the times. I am pleased that we could avoid these layoffs, protect the workforce and the taxpayer," Governor Cuomo said in a press release.

The governor's office had to rescind layoff notices to members of PEF sent out on Friday after the deal was announced. The new deal would freeze wages until 2014, require members to pay more towards the cost of health care, and reform the existing health care system for employees.

The union's rank-and-file membership must now vote on whether to approve the deal. A similar deal was reached with the state's largest union, the Civil Service Employees Association, late last month, which is also awaiting membership approval.

(Courtesy Senator Klein's office)

It looks like Senate Republicans aren't the only ones to which Mayor Michael Bloomberg is generously donating.

State Senator Jeff Klein of the Bronx received a $10,300 donation from the billionaire mayor, according to Klein's July filing report. We're awaiting return phone calls from the other members of the state senate's Independent Democrat Conference--Senators Diane Savino, David Valesky, and David Carlucci--but each of the other three members reportedly received donations of equal size.

Considering the split between the four progressive Democratic senators and the independent mayor on a number of issues, the link between the donation and some sort of legislative action is unclear--unlike the senate Republicans who have received equally large donations for their votes on same-sex marriage.

UPDATE: IDC spokesperson Rich Azzopardi confirmed that all four of the members of the conference received the maximum $10,300 from Mayor Bloomberg. But he said it shouldn't come as a surprise, given the mayor's past indication of support for the group.

"He's been very supportive of us when we formed and what we stand for, and certainly what we've done this session," Azzopardi said. "Above all else we [all] value progress over partisanship."

(h/t Shane Dixon Kavanaugh at Crain's)

Will John Liu be flush from Flushing? Is Christine Quinn collecting checks in Chelsea? Will De Blasio get bank rolled by Brooklyn?

The presumptive 2013 Democratic mayoral hopefuls have until 5pm today to submit their third financial statement to the Campaign Finance Board. With the help of WNYC's map guru John Keefe, the Empire is giving readers a visual way to look at where the candidates are raising funds. The deeper the shade, the more the money. We'll update the map as the numbers come in, and will be sure to post the raw figures as well. Dig in and let us know if you find anything!

And on we go: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's numbers for the last six months just came in: $653,001. Stringer is third behind Speaker Quinn and Comptroller Liu in reported campaign donations so far this year.

The CFB just tweeted that Christine Quinn has raised $1,360,529 in the past six months, establishing her as the clear fundraising winner so far.

Response to “Deputy Mayor Steel rebuts Liu on pensions,” by Colby Hamilton on the WNYC blog The Empire Blog of Thursday, July 14, 2011.

In his comments during the Citizens Budget Commission breakfast at the Princeton Club on Thursday, Deputy Mayor Robert Steel was quoted as saying “Pensions are to the City of New York what entitlement reform is to the federal government…"

We beg to differ. In fact, the NYC pension funds are fundamentally different than federal entitlement programs and it confuses the issue to make such comparisons.

  (Courtesy of the comptroller's office/Paul Brumlik)

The Campaign Finance Board is reporting the Liu campaign has raised $993,815 over the last six months, according to the filing they've just received. That doubles the total amount the comptroller has raised so far.

More details to come.

Your morning economic check-in!

The New York Federal Reserve's release of the latest economic snapshot show New York City and State continuing to improve from our recession lows. The Fed shows that New Jersey's economy, on the other hand, continues to be stuck in a rut.

The Fed's most recent analysis is for May 2011 data. You can read more about here.

(Courtesy of the NY Federal Reserve)

Pensions, Sunny-side Down

 

Getty Images/Chris Hondros

Mayor Bloomberg’s economic capo, Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, presented the administration’s case for pension reform this morning at a breakfast put on by the Citizen’s Budget Commission. Considering CBC and the mayor’s stance on city pensions, the gist of the forty-minute talk wasn’t a surprise.

The city’s pensions were unsustainable. Their costs had risen seven fold and now represent nearly 13 percent of the city’s budget. Only education spending costs the city more. And the big problem, said Steel, isn’t that the fund hasn’t performing well enough—it’s that we’ve promised more than we can cover.

“Pensions are to the City of New York what entitlement reform is to the federal government,” Steel said. “These are difficult, hard issues that require political risks to be taken to make the hard choices that we need.”

By Alec Hamilton

UPDATE: The Empire blog has received some corrective communications from both the Campaign Finance Board and a few campaigns, including Councilman Mark Weprin. "Offenders" was a poor choice of words in characterizing a few of the campaigns identified in yesterday's CFB press release. Both Councilmember Mark Weprin and former Councilmember Kenneth C. Mitchell have repaid their portions promptly.

Eric Friedman, Director of External Affairs at the CFB explained that a campaign can owe money back to the CFB without having done anything wrong, and it is not unusual for the CFB to request return of unused funds. He said that under the city's public matching funds system, there is a mix of private and public funds in every campaign. "The requirement to return unused funds to the taxpayers after the election helps ensure that taxpayers get the best value from the program,” Friedman said.

Councilmember Weprin said that his campaign had actually been holding the money to return for 18 months, but had to await the CFB's ruling.  "We were very prudent with the public money we received and we were happy to return over $16,000 to the taxpayers," he said.

***

If you were a candidate in 2009, and you didn’t do right by your public funds agreement, you better watch out -- the Campaign Finance Board is looking for you.

The CFB held another monthly meeting today, going through audits and claims to add sixteen more campaigns to its list of violators that owe either public funds or penalties to the board. The Board found that eight campaigns owe penalties, including Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who owes $4,600, and Brooklyn Community Board 1 district manager--and former city council candidate--Gerald Esposito, who dwarfs the others with a whopping $23,725 in penalties.

The Board identified another eight campaigns that owed public money that the Board wants returned. In addition the Board found in favor of three campaigns claiming post-election payments: Councilmembers Robert Jackson and James Molinaro, and former council candidate Robert Friedrich.

Separately, the Board continues to hold one egregious offender to task – John M. Finan, a write-in mayoral candidate from 2009, who owes penalties of $500 for depositing public funds into the same account as his personal funds.