View letter to Council

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today announced several actions requested or taken by his office to increase transparency and accountability in the City’s budgeting process in the wake of the City Council’s use of phantom organizations to allocate discretionary funds.

In a letter to New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller Thompson said: “It remains clear…that the Council’s process was conceived and used to deflect legitimate inquiry into how our City’s tax dollars are being allocated.”

Thompson noted that several agencies currently are reviewing the matter – which came to light last week – in an effort to fully ascertain and address the circumstances, in which City Council discretionary funds including member and line items were allocated through phantom organizations.

Thompson, in the letter, noted that his office is taking the following steps as a result of “this distortion of the City’s budgetary process”:

First, Thompson’s office will require all agency agreements that are funded by City Council discretionary monies, regardless of amount, be reviewed by the Comptroller’s office before any funds can be disbursed.

Second, the Comptroller’s Office will direct the City’s auditors, Deloitte and Touche, to independently audit the Council’s discretionary fund budget process upon the conclusion of the ongoing investigations by outside entities: the city’s Department of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. 

Additionally, Thompson strongly urged the City to create a specific budget category for all discretionary funds identified by the City Council. The Council’s Schedule C, which itemizes all organizations and programs that the Council is funding, should also be made publicly available prior to the adoption of the City’s budget, he said.

The Comptroller also requested that any shifts in funding during budget modifications should specifically describe discretionary funded items.

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