Field of Schemes: Bloomberg on public oversight: Oh, fine

June 30, 2005

Bloomberg on public oversight: Oh, fine

Remember that slush fund of developer fees that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to use for a New York Jets stadium, back when there was still a New York Jets stadium in the works? The one that the mayor's top lawyer said any attempts by the city council to restrict would be an "impermissible curtailment of the mayor’s powers under the City Charter"? Turns out he didn't really mean all that after all - yesterday, Bloomberg did an about-face and signed into law a bill requiring council oversight of city-collected PILOTs (payments in lieu of property taxes), calling it a "reasonable compromise" that will "increase public input into the PILOT process."

Given that the mayor had previously asserted that he had the right to spend this money without consulting anyone, who knew that "public input" was even a concern of his - but hey, maybe he's been doing his reading.

COMMENTS

From the NY Sun page 3 Wednesday or Thursday > > According to the council, the new bill is a modified version of one > the mayor vetoed this month.It requires all money collected from > PILOTs to go into the city's general cash pool, but, unlike the > previous bill, it allows the mayor to request approval to use some of > that money for a specific project, such as a stadium. > > > > Are we sure that the Mayor MUST go through a City Council VOTE to have > this request approved.
Posted by: Rob Puca at July 1, 2005 02:47 PM

Okay, I just checked: The mayor still needs a council vote, but it looks like it's outside the budget process - he just sends a request, and the council passes (or doesn't) a resolution saying "Fine, whatever." That's from a third-hand description of the bill, though - we should know more once the council gets around to posting it on their website.
Posted by: Neil at July 1, 2005 04:41 PM