1 2 CITY COUNCIL 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 4 -------------------------------x 5 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES 6 of the 7 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 8 -------------------------------x 9 10 June 29, 2008 Start: 8:05 p.m. 11 Recess: 9:30 p.m. 12 City Hall Committee Room 13 New York, New York 14 B E F O R E: 15 DAVID WEPRIN 16 Chairperson, 17 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Joel Rivera 18 Diana Reyna Maria Baez 19 Gale Brewer 20 21 22 23 24 LEGAL-EASE COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC. 17 Battery Place - Suite 1308 25 New York, New York 10004 (800) 756-3410 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S 3 COUNCIL MEMBERS: 4 5 Leroy Comrie Bill DeBlasio 6 Lewis Fidler James Gennaro 7 Alan Gerson Eric Gioia 8 Robert Jackson Oliver Koppell 9 Michael McMahon Helen Sears 10 Albert Vann David Yassky 11 Vincent Gentile Vincent Ignizio 12 James Oddo 13 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) 14 Kathleen Grimm 15 Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration NYC Department of Education 16 Sharon Greenberger 17 President NYC School Construction Authority 18 Ross Holden 19 Vice President General Counsel 20 NYC School Construction Authority 21 Stuart Klein First Deputy Director 22 NYC Office of Management and Budget 23 Preston Niblack Director of Finance 24 Finance Division Council of the City of New York 25 3 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Before we start 3 the formal Finance Meeting, and before my opening 4 statement, I just want to announce that the 5 following items are included in Members' Fiscal 2009 6 budget packet that you have been handed: 7 A cover letter describing a new 8 disclosure form relating to groups listed on 9 Schedule C, and the Fiscal 2008 Transparency 10 Resolution. 11 2) A copy of the Conflicts of 12 Interest Disclosure Form. This form needs to be 13 filled out and given to Noren Camp, our Ethics 14 Counsel, or Finance staff, prior to today's Finance 15 vote. 16 3) A copy of Fiscal 2009 Schedule C. 17 4) Two budget modifications, MN 5 18 Expense, and MN 6 Revenue. OMB will be on-hand to 19 answer any questions regarding those. 20 Number 5) Fiscal 2008, Fiscal 21 Transparency Resolution and Report. 22 6) Education Capital Plan Amendment 23 and Report. And Kathleen Grimm will be on-hand to 24 answer any questions regarding that. 25 7) Three Property Tax Fixing 4 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Resolutions. And Nadine Felton, from our Finance 3 Division, will be on-hand to answer any questions 4 regarding those. 5 8) Proposed Community Development 6 Budget and CD Resolution. 7 9) Supporting documents detailing 8 Capital projects. 9 10) Capital Budget Resolution 10 documents we will be voting on. 11 11) Expense Budget Resolution 12 documents we will be voting on. 13 12) Borough Presidents' appropriation 14 changes pursuant to Section 249 of the Charter. 15 13) Additional supporting documents 16 relating to Expense changes provided by Finance. 17 Also, I want to remind members that 18 they must disclose on the record during today's 19 Finance vote and Stated Meeting, as well, any 20 conflicts they have with groups listed on Schedule C 21 and the Transparency Resolution. 22 Good evening. 23 THE QUORUM: Good evening. 24 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: And welcome to 25 today's meeting of the City Council Finance 5 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Committee. This unusual Sunday session, which was 3 authorized by prior legislation and will be voted on 4 at the Stated Committee Meeting (sic), at the Stated 5 Meeting. 6 My name is David Weprin. I Chair the 7 Finance Committee. Let me introduce my colleagues 8 that are here now, and it looks like we have a full 9 house. We have Council Member Diana Reyna, from 10 Brooklyn and Queens; Council Member David Yassky, 11 from Brooklyn; Council Member Helen Sears, from 12 Queens; Councilman Jim Gennaro, from Queens; 13 Councilman Alan Gerson, from Manhattan; Council 14 Member Vincent Gentile, from Brooklyn; Council 15 Member Lew Fidler, from Brooklyn; Council Member 16 Maria Baez, from the Bronx. Going to the other side: 17 Council Member Bill DeBlasio, from Brooklyn; Council 18 Member Mike McMahon, from Staten Island; Council 19 Member John Liu, from Queens; Council Member Oliver 20 Koppell, from the Bronx; Council Member Robert 21 Jackson, from Manhattan; Council Member Leroy 22 Comrie, from Queens; Council Member Melinda Katz, 23 from Queens; Council Member Gale Brewer, from 24 Manhattan; and Joel Rivera, from the Bronx, our 25 Majority Leader. 6 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Tonight this Committee will consider 3 the proposed Expense and Capital Budgets and take 4 those actions necessary to recommend a Fiscal 2009 5 Budget to the full City Council. 6 This includes legislation which would 7 fix the property tax rates for Fiscal Year 2009, as 8 well as voting on the Fourth Annual Amendment to the 9 Five-Year Educational Facilities Capital Plan. 10 Before we begin to focus on the 11 upcoming fiscal year, we must close out the current 12 fiscal year with a Revenue and Expense Budget 13 Modification. 14 We have before us MN 5, the Mayor's 15 Expense Modification, and MN 6, the Mayor's Revenue 16 Modification. 17 The Revenue Modification recognizes 18 approximately 69 million in new revenues, resulting 19 from an increase in miscellaneous revenues of 94 20 million, offset by a reduction in forecasted tax 21 revenues of about 24 million. 22 Most of the revenue from the 23 Modification, 60 million, will go to the Retirees 24 Health Benefits Trust Fund, previously budgeted in 25 Fiscal 2009. 7 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 The Expense Modification provides 3 approximately 211 million for the prepayment of 4 Transitional Finance Authority debt, an increase of 5 about 46 million for the prepayment of lease 6 purchase debt, and decreases the General Reserve by 7 approximately $69 million. 8 In addition to the two modifications, 9 this Committee will also be considering a 10 Transparency Resolution related to the Fiscal 2008 11 Budget. The Resolution discloses or approves the 12 designation of certain groups receiving funding 13 pursuant to the Fiscal 2008 Budget. 14 Moving on to the Fiscal Year 2009 15 Budget, the $59.1 billion budget before us is being 16 herald on the other end of City Hall as both a good 17 and bad news budget. 18 The good news is that this budget 19 still makes good on promises the Council has made in 20 the past couple of years to our City's residents to 21 reduce or limit the tax burden on City homeowners, 22 to allow our libraries to stay open six days a week, 23 and to continue to protect our classrooms from cuts 24 to essential services. 25 Specifically, this budget preserves 8 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 the seven percent property tax cut that we enacted 3 last year, and the $400 property tax rebate to 4 homeowners. 5 The seven percent cut will ensure 6 that many residential taxpayers will, at a minimum, 7 be held harmless from tax increases. 8 This budget also includes an 9 additional $129 million in education spending over 10 and above the amount originally proposed in the 11 Mayor's Executive Budget. 12 These new education funds will be 13 used to ensure that individual schools receive the 14 same amount of funding proposed prior to January 15 when the Fiscal 2009 spending reductions were 16 announced and subsequently included in the Mayor's 17 Executive Budget. 18 In addition, money for the Department 19 of Education will support many of the City's 20 struggling middle schools, English Language 21 Learners, and to reduce class sizes. 22 In light of the dire economic 23 situation the City is facing, I am extremely proud 24 to see that the Council was still able to provide 25 this money and live up to its promise to our City's 9 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 teachers and school children, to restore as much 3 education funding as we possibly could. 4 In addition, the Council was able to 5 provide an additional $18 million for the New York 6 City Housing Authority, so that the New York City 7 Housing Authority can continue to operate as many 8 community and senior centers as possible. 9 Unfortunately, the bad news is that 10 as a result of the current economic downturn, which 11 has threatened the Fiscal 2010 and out years' 12 budget, this Council was unable to provide as much 13 money as it would have liked for cultural and social 14 programs. 15 City-funded spending is virtually 16 flat for Fiscal 2009, compared to Fiscal 2008, and 17 the Fiscal 2009 Budget's spending increase of 1.6 18 percent in City funds is well below the projected 19 2.7 percent annual rate of inflation. 20 The City's Capital Budget will be cut 21 by approximately 20 percent, and City agencies will 22 be required to absorb across-the-board cuts in 23 operating expenses. 24 In addition, funding for Council 25 programs was cut by almost 40 percent, limiting the 10 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Council's ability to provide funding for some of the 3 City's cultural and social programs. 4 Despite these cuts, I believe that 5 this Council, together with the Mayor, has made some 6 smart -- 7 (Outburst from the audience.) 8 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Okay. Okay. I 9 can't go any louder. 10 We're going to have to have the 11 Sergeant-At-Arms remove people. I'm warning that 12 we're going to have the Sergeant-At-Arms evict 13 people. We're going to have the Sergeant-At-Arms 14 evict people if the disruption continues. 15 (Outburst from the audience.) 16 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: We're going to 17 have to evict people from the room. 18 We're going to have the 19 Sergeant-At-Arms evict people from the premises to 20 continue. 21 Okay. 22 (Pause in tape.) 23 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: As I was saying, 24 despite these cuts, I believe that this Council, 25 together with the Mayor, has made some smart, though 11 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 difficult, decisions that will help the City through 3 the financial uncertainty ahead, while maintaining 4 most essential City services. 5 For this reason, I urge your support 6 so that this Committee can recommend this budget to 7 the full Council. 8 At the same time we vote on the 9 budget, we must fix the property tax rates for 10 Fiscal 2009. We will consider three Tax-Fixing 11 Resolutions, which will include the seven percent 12 property tax reduction. 13 In addition to these budget items, 14 this Committee will be approving the fourth annual 15 amendment to the Five-Year Educational Facilities 16 Capital Plan for 2005 through 2009. 17 I am pleased to see that this 18 amendment is based on the original $13.1 billion, 19 and this money will be used to eliminate 20 overcrowding, reduce class sizes and improve the 21 quality of existing facilities so that all of our 22 schools can provide students with a sound, basic 23 education. 24 We will now hear from Kathleen Grimm 25 on the proposed Education Budget, as well as the 12 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Finance staff following that, on any other 3 questions, and other OMB staff. 4 We also have Sharon Greenberger, Head 5 of the School Construction Authority, here, as well. 6 Deputy Chancellor Grimm. 7 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Yes, good 8 evening. Thank you. I am delighted to be here with 9 you this evening. I am joined by Sharon Greenberger, 10 the President of the School Construction Authority, 11 and also Ross Holden, who is Vice President and 12 General Counsel to the SCA. 13 And we are here to talk about, I 14 believe the Capital Plan. We are here to talk about 15 the Capital Plan. We are going into the last year of 16 what has been, with the help of a lot of people in 17 this room, I think a very, very successful plan. 18 We were, as you know, successful in 19 getting the State money. So, the plan is fully 20 funded at $13 billion. We are putting out 21 commitments this year and will continue to do so 22 next year, which will enable us to meet our targets 23 and add all of the 63,000 classroom seats, and the 24 many, many other wonderful things we are doing in 25 this Plan, and we are happy to take any questions 13 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 you may have. 3 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Okay, I'm sure 4 some of my colleagues have some questions. 5 No questions? 6 Council Member Jackson. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Thank you, 8 Mr. Chair. 9 I was going to say good afternoon, 10 but it is good evening. 11 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Soon good night, 12 but... 13 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Yes. 14 Now, can you tell me, with respects 15 to this proposed 2008 Amendment, from a financial 16 point of view, as far as money, how much money is 17 being allocated in this Fiscal Year, and whether or 18 not there are more projects in there, or overall 19 it's been reduced as a result of the economy? The 20 economic situation? 21 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: There have 22 been no reductions to this plan, because, if 23 anything, we are still carrying the full $13.1 24 billion at this time. 25 There are some conversations with 14 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 OMB, but I'm quite confident that we will certainly 3 finish this plan really almost totally intact. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: And, now, 5 we're in the -- this year will be the last year of 6 this plan; is that correct? 7 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: That is 8 correct. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: And overall, 10 with respect to the number of seats, can you tell me 11 what was projected in the beginning? And are we on 12 target to complete the number of seats, as far as 13 new seats that were scheduled from day one, and/or 14 any other major changes with respects to the total 15 numbers, as were projected from day one? 16 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: The initial 17 projection of new-capacity seats was 66,000. As we 18 went through the annual amendments to the plan and 19 the annual demographic studies, it became clear that 20 across the City there were changes in different 21 areas, so we had some increases and we had some 22 decreases. Overall, the number of new-capacity seats 23 will be 63,000, when the plan, all the projects in 24 this plan are completed. 25 I believe through today we have sited 15 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 all of those seats but for 8,000, and we will 3 continue to try to site those seats. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: And overall, 5 with respects to when this Five-Year Capital Plan 6 was put into place, approximately five years ago, I 7 believe, how has the cost of construction and 8 inflation diminished what we were projected to do? 9 I know that you may have sited 10 things, but overall things go out to the next 11 Five-Year Plan, how has the construction cost and 12 inflation eaten into the total number of projects 13 that were projected in the initial Five-Year Capital 14 Plan? 15 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Well, you're 16 certainly correct to point out that there have been 17 changes, because the cost of construction and steel, 18 the costs have been extraordinary, given the very 19 heated market we've had in construction. 20 We have, throughout this plan, 21 however, protected the capacity seats. We have had 22 to pull back on other projects, but we have not 23 pulled back on the new-capacity seats. We remain 24 committed to building those seats. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Now, also, 16 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 with respects to, I know that many Parents 3 Associations and groups have complained about the 4 fact that there is not enough seats, and more 5 specifically, in District 2 -- 6 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Yes. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: -- Which I 8 have attended several combination community boards 9 and CEC meetings where the issue of not enough seats 10 was the primary target, and also, just recently the 11 other day I believe people from District 1, and from 12 PS, I believe 234, was here at City Hall complaining 13 about not enough seats; what has been done for 14 those? I guess District 2 has been a district that 15 has been -- 16 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Mm-hmm. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: -- In need 18 for seats, and here in District 1. 19 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Well, in 20 District 2 we certainly are watching the trend 21 there, and there is clearly a need, not only for the 22 seats that we have in the plan, but probably 23 additional seats. 24 We have been working very, very 25 closely with the elected officials and community 17 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 groups and PTA groups in District 2, and in fact 3 have presented them with a blueprint. It's not just 4 about the seats, I mean because the seats are very 5 important, it's also about enrollment, it's about 6 our zones, and we're trying to take a very 7 comprehensive view, and I'm really delighted with 8 the progress that we've been making in the community 9 with the school community and the PTAs. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: So, this 11 proposed 2008 amendment, school-based addition by 12 City Council districts, and I'm glad it's by City 13 Council, because you can easily look in your 14 district, are you telling me that this is the last 15 year that we're on target as to what our projections 16 were, as you indicated, except for the seats that 17 have not been sited, and by the end of this fiscal 18 year, those seats will be sited in order to move 19 forward? 20 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: We certainly 21 hope so. We certainly hope so. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Thank you, 23 Mr. Chair. 24 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 25 Council Member Jackson. 18 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Council Member Gerson. 3 And we've also been joined by some 4 additional colleagues. Let me just acknowledge them. 5 We have Council Member Eric Gioia, from Queens; 6 Council Member Vincent Ignizio, from Staten Island; 7 Council Member Jim Oddo, from Staten Island and 8 Brooklyn; and Council Member Charles Barron, from 9 Brooklyn; and Council Member Sara Gonzalez, from 10 Brooklyn. And Council Member Rosie Mendez, from 11 Manhattan. And Council Member Miguel Martinez, from 12 Manhattan. 13 Who did I leave out? Speak now. 14 Council Member Gerson. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Thank you very 16 much, Mr. Chair. 17 Good evening. 18 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Good 19 evening. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: If this 21 Council this evening adopts the proposed capital 22 budget, as I'm sure you are aware, we will allocate 23 a quarter of a million dollars for the completion of 24 a gymnasium at the Millennium High School, created 25 in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 -- 19 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Yes. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: -- Serving 4 students Citywide. 5 And I want to acknowledge the work 6 and the support of you and your office and the 7 Department in a collaborative effort, for as I 8 understand with the Council allocation, allocations 9 by other offices and levels of government, and the 10 Department's own Capital allocation, we will finally 11 be in a position to complete this project. 12 So, assuming that is correct, let me 13 take this opportunity to thank you and to 14 acknowledge that achievement. 15 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Well, thank 16 you. We're very grateful we can move ahead on that. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: So that means 18 I am correct? 19 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: You are. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: And then let 21 me just ask you, going forward with the balance of 22 this Five-Year -- with the amendment to the current 23 Five-Year Capital Plan, and as we are preparing the 24 upcoming Capital Plan, which I believe we'll 25 consider some time in the fall, are we committed to 20 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 an effort, and do we have in place the planning to 3 assure that all schools will be constructed with 4 full gymnasio (sic), or at least in areas where we 5 have clusters of school, with a shared gymnasia and 6 physical education facilities in the immediate 7 vicinity so all students in all schools will have 8 the benefit of that essential space and facility? 9 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Do you want 10 to answer that? 11 MS. GREENBERGER: I was just going to 12 say, we actually do now, in our standards now for 13 all new construction, include either a full 14 gymnasium or at least space for a multi-service 15 space, multi-purpose space that can serve as a 16 gymnasium space. So, that is part of our standards 17 right now for all new schools. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Does that 19 include -- do those standards apply to all schools 20 subsisting or existing in rented space? 21 MS. GREENBERGER: In leased space we 22 are also looking to ensure that we include a 23 multi-purpose space. Sometimes we are very 24 constrained by space. If we can't, if we absolutely 25 cannot build a multi-purpose space, then we will 21 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 look to see what is close by. But our standard is to 3 create at least one multi-purpose space. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: All right. 5 Well, Mr. Chair, and Chair Jackson, 6 as we go forward, I look forward to working with the 7 Department to assure that we meet that goal and 8 perhaps expand that goal. 9 I'm a little concerned over the 10 reference to "multi-purpose space." I'm not quite 11 sure that spaces I've seen would fall within the 12 category of multi-purpose space, satisfy the needs 13 for real, true physical education that a real gym 14 provides. 15 So, I urge, I strongly urge, and I 16 know we're going to discuss this, but I would be 17 remiss if I did not take this opportunity as we 18 celebrate one accomplishment towards this goal, that 19 we make it a real hard and fast Citywide goal. Every 20 kid should have access to a gym, period. The end. 21 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Okay. We'll 22 do our best. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Well, if we do 24 our best, then we will succeed. 25 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 22 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 3 Council member. 4 Council Member Gale Brewer. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Thank you very 6 much. 7 Very quickly, how do the campus-wide 8 efforts, which are Capital, fit into this plan, 9 which will then carry over to the next plan? 10 Obviously, I'm talking about King, 11 but there are others. These are where there is a 12 multitude of high schools and they are -- 13 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Yes. We 14 certainly hope to finish as much as we can, in terms 15 of what was in this plan. And what we will do for 16 the next plan is continue to kind of look at the 17 campuses where we are converting from one major, one 18 school in that building, and creating more schools 19 to see if there are better opportunities to use some 20 Capital dollars to crystalize those organizations. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Because those 22 plans seem to take longer than when there is a 23 single school, 'cause it just takes much longer and 24 seems to drag out. So, the money could be carried 25 over to the next plan, if it's not finished? 23 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: We're 3 scheduled to complete what's in this plan. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: For these 5 campuses. 6 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: For these 7 campuses. But what we'll want to do is be alert to 8 additional campuses that perhaps we should be adding 9 to the next plan. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Thank you. 11 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you. 12 Council Member Miguel Martinez. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 14 Mr. Chair. I'll just be brief. A quick question. 15 One, I want to commend the Department 16 for making it easier to read the document, breaking 17 it down by Council district. 18 And two, I just have a brief question 19 regarding the document pertaining to my district. 20 Are there any new school construction building going 21 up included in the document? 22 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Do you know? 23 Districts -- 24 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: In other 25 words, I'm scheduled to have a new school building 24 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 built on Sherman and 204th Street, the Washington 3 Heights Academy. 4 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Mm-hmm. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Is that in 6 the document? 7 MS. GREENBERGER: Yes, it is. 8 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Yes. 9 MS. GREENBERGER: It's listed in the 10 document. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: I didn't see 12 it. 13 MS. GREENBERGER: It's probably 14 included under, it's either under Sherman Avenue -- 15 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Yes. 16 MS. GREENBERGER: I think it's listed 17 there. If you don't see it right there, I can look 18 for it. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: I will 20 follow-up with you. 21 MS. GREENBERGER: But it is absolutely 22 in this Capital Plan. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: All right. 24 Thank you. 25 And two, again, looking at the 25 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Expense, also make it easier to go back and explain 3 to individual schools the dollars that they're not 4 going to lose and calm a lot of nerves in the school 5 communities, as to the money that we're going to 6 lose. So, thank you for doing that. 7 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 8 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 9 Council Member. 10 Council Member Leroy Comrie. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Thank you, Mr. 12 Chair. 13 I wanted to just ask, the monies that 14 you have for site acquisition, the monies have gone 15 down. I was looking for the Borough of Queens, and I 16 just wanted to understand why the money had been 17 reduced from FY '08 to FY '09. 18 I'm looking at Page Q3 of the book. 19 I'm trying to understand. Have all of 20 the -- 21 MS. GREENBERGER: I don't have the 22 plan in front of me. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. 24 MS. GREENBERGER: I do know that we 25 have -- 26 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Well, my 3 general question would be then, have all of the 4 sites that have been determined that need to be 5 inquired (sic) for Queens, have they all been 6 determined, or -- 7 MS. GREENBERGER: No. There are still 8 some seats that need to be sited in Queens. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Right. 10 MS. GREENBERGER: We were actively 11 looking for sites. If you have suggestions or ideas 12 for us to look at, we welcome them. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. But -- 14 MS. GREENBERGER: But there are -- 15 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: So then I'm 16 then concerned that the amount of money for site 17 acquisition has seemed to have gone down. 18 MS. GREENBERGER: It hasn't decreased. 19 It is still available in the plan. 20 I don't know exactly what you're 21 looking at. We can look at it with you -- 22 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. 23 MS. GREENBERGER: -- At a later date 24 and show you. But we have not had, we don't have any 25 issues with having funds reserved for site 27 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 acquisition. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. 4 And there is active level of 5 searching for all of the sites needed? 6 MS. GREENBERGER: Yes. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. 8 And then just one other general 9 question. On the list here, if a school comes up 10 with an emergency during this time and they have, 11 say, masonry and electrical during the year, can 12 they make an adjustment based on an emergency in the 13 building? 14 MS. GREENBERGER: We do, and we have 15 done that in the past. Where there is an emergency 16 that needs immediate attention, we will make sure 17 that -- 18 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: And could that 19 be done separate from this? Or is that done as a 20 substitute of what is slated for the school now? 21 MS. GREENBERGER: Oh. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Say if there 23 is an electrical emergency and there was a brownout 24 because they were trying to put in a new computer 25 system? 28 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 MS. GREENBERGER: Well, in a situation 3 like that we would probably work with the Department 4 of School Facilities, DSF, to determine if it's a 5 maintenance issue, or if it needs -- 6 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Right. 7 MS. GREENBERGER: -- Capital funds. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. Because 9 some of the schools have been telling me that 10 they're wiring is so old that they can't even put in 11 the ACs to put in the new -- or the wiring to put in 12 the new computer system. So, I'm just checking as 13 far as how we do our Reso A's with how the buildings 14 are ready to deal with the components, so... But you 15 actively go out and check that. I know your staff 16 has been great on a lot of that, I was just 17 wondering if the way that flexibility comes in, if 18 it comes in as part of this plan, or is there 19 another fund that handles those emergencies? 20 MS. GREENBERGER: Well, again, if it's 21 an emergency, we will work with DSF to determine if 22 it's a maintenance emergency or if it needs Capital 23 funds. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. Thank 25 you. 29 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 I just want to also take a moment to 3 congratulate the Queens -- I'm forgetting titles -- 4 DCA Review Staff that looks into and maintaining the 5 buildings and doing the Capital Plan assessment. So, 6 we have had a good working relationship. I'm 7 blanking on their names at the moment, but I'll 8 thank them without mentioning names at this time. 9 Thank you. 10 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 11 Council member. 12 Council Member Koppell. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Thank you, 14 Mr. Chairman. 15 I don't know if you know this in such 16 detail, but in my district we have Walton High 17 School, and I'm looking at the Capital projection 18 for Walton High School and it says, "Rehabilitation 19 of physical education facility's swimming pools." Is 20 the plan to reopen the swimming pool at Walton High 21 School? Is that what that is for? 22 MS. GREENBERGER: If it's in the plan, 23 then, yes, it's to rehabilitate the swimming pool so 24 that it can be used. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Well, let me 30 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 just say that it's something that I have recommended 3 for several years, and I had heard that they were 4 going to actually remove the pool and put something 5 else there. But the way this is written, it looks 6 like they're actually going to do the pool. 7 MS. GREENBERGER: If it is worded 8 there, then that means that they are going to 9 renovate the pool. We can confirm that for you, but 10 -- 11 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Well -- 12 MS. GREENBERGER: I think, in fact, 13 Ross is just reminding that we just signed a 14 contract for that work to start, so... 15 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: And you're 16 actually going to reopen the swimming pool? 17 MS. GREENBERGER: Well, if we renovate 18 it, we will reopen it, yes. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Well, let me 20 just say that that's terrific news. And I don't know 21 why, having talked about this now for two years, 22 nobody even called me, since the school is in my 23 district, to tell me. But that's the best news that 24 I've heard tonight by far, because I've been very 25 much involved both in urging more swimming, and I 31 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 want to indicate that Council Member Gerson and 3 Council Member Yassky, we've been lobbying on this 4 issue for some years, and it relates not only to 5 providing swimming and swimming instruction for 6 students, but also I have been working, fighting 7 with the Parks Department about training more 8 lifeguards, because we have a chronic shortage of 9 lifeguards. And one of the ways of dealing with that 10 is to get to both teach kids how swim and train them 11 in our high schools. It's something that I had when 12 I went to high school. And I had no idea this was 13 being done, nobody had told me, but I'm just so 14 delighted. 15 So, as I say, with all the somewhat 16 questionable -- well, somewhat, you know, up and 17 down news of the budget, this is the best news I've 18 heard tonight. 19 So, thank you very much. I strongly 20 support -- and I hope, I don't know, are you doing 21 something similar in Evander Childs High School, 22 which is not in -- it's in Council Member Seabrook's 23 district, but those pools have been closed, too. Do 24 you know whether you are doing anything at Evander? 25 MS. GREENBERGER: I don't. I'll tell 32 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 you, I don't have the plan in front of me. We can 3 look. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: I would be 5 interested. And I know he would be interested in 6 that. But thank you very much. I'm very pleased to 7 read this. 8 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 9 Councilman Oliver Koppell. 10 Council Member David Yassky. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Thank you, Mr. 12 Chair. 13 I will, you know, vote for this plan. 14 I will just make a note, and we've had this 15 conversation at previous meetings. I just want to 16 continue in my point, that the policy that says that 17 if an entire district is at, you know, is at 18 capacity, that we should not take that to mean that 19 there isn't part of a district that has a desperate 20 need for new seats, and that's a policy difference. 21 I will vote for this plan, and I 22 voted for it in the past, but, you know, as we've 23 said before, I just want the Department and the 24 Chair to be on notice that when it comes to next 25 year and the new plan, I won't be able to support a 33 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 plan that maintains that policy with the effect that 3 it has on my area, in particular. 4 So, duly noted, and -- 5 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: We have made 6 a commitment in the next plan. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: We have spoken 8 on that. 9 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Okay. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Thank you. 11 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 12 Council member. 13 No further questions of this panel. 14 Does anybody have any questions on 15 any other matter before us? 16 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Is there an 17 Education Expense panel, too? Because these guys are 18 just Capital. 19 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: The Finance 20 staff. Actually, OMB is here to answer questions on 21 Expense items, okay? 22 Thank you. 23 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Thank you. 24 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Could we have 25 representatives from OMB? 34 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Oh, one last question. Council Member 3 Helen Sears. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Thank you. 5 Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. 6 And Ms. Grimm, it's very good to see 7 you again. 8 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: It's good to 9 see you. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: And I want to 11 publicly thank you for all of your cooperation. 12 My question is, if there is anything 13 that, I'm not sure if it's a negotiation, or 14 whatever, in terms of acquisition of property -- 15 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Mm-hmm. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: And knowing how 17 long it takes to do that, if that were to be 18 successful, particularly I'm thinking within my 19 district, would that fit into this plan, or would 20 that have to go into another plan, another year? 21 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: It would 22 depend on the circumstances of the situation, you 23 know, and where we were -- 24 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Okay. 25 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: -- In the 35 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 acquisition. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: In terms of, 4 you know, relieving the extreme overcrowding of a 5 particular intermediate school that is happening in 6 the district, and I believe there is some talk of 7 acquiring two pieces of property right in Jackson 8 Heights. And I'm being parochial for a moment 9 because I'm asking that question of then what 10 Capital year would that fit in? 11 Maybe we could discuss that -- 12 MS. GREENBERGER: (Not using 13 microphone) to site in this plan. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: -- Afterwards. 15 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: If we find a 16 site -- 17 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: It's already 18 been found. 19 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: If we find a 20 site and acquired it, it would be part of this plan. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Okay. All 22 right, thank you very much. 23 DEPUTY CHANCELLOR GRIMM: Okay. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: That answers 25 it. 36 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 3 Council member. 4 I was told that First Deputy Budget 5 Director Stuart Klein is in the house. If he could 6 step forward, please. 7 We've also been joined by Council 8 Member Simcha Felder, from Brooklyn. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: No, no, I'm 10 leaving. (Not using microphone.) 11 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: I said were 12 joined. 13 Did we drag you out of your house, 14 Mr. Klein? I see you're -- 15 MR. KLEIN: Yes. No, I've been here 16 for awhile. 17 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: You have been 18 here for awhile, okay. 19 I believe Council Member Comrie had a 20 question for Mr. Klein. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Yes. Thank 22 you, Mr. Chair. 23 I was looking at the Expense part of 24 the New York City Education Budget, and I was 25 curious as to why it seemed like the high schools 37 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 didn't get the full reimbursements that the 3 undergrads did? I don't know if you could answer 4 that. 5 MR. KLEIN: No, I can't. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Okay. 7 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Is there anybody 8 that can? 9 MR. KLEIN: I could try and find out. 10 Are you talking about the money for 11 next year? 12 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Yes. 13 MR. KLEIN: Or the MNs? I thought we 14 were going to take up the MNs first. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: I'm talking 16 about the adjusted budget total CFE, C4E and 17 distributed. The sheets that we were given in the 18 Preliminary Budget Report. 19 Maybe we can get you a copy. I'm not 20 sure. 21 MR. KLEIN: I haven't seen that. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Or they were 23 totaled by district or? 24 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Mr. Klein is 25 prepared to discuss the budget mod. 38 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Right. 3 Where is the mod? 4 This is it? Okay. 5 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Well, limiting 6 questions to whatever Mr. Klein feels he can answer. 7 MR. KLEIN: I mean, I came to speak 8 about the MNs. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Right. Clearly 10 he's not ready to speak about that, but can I -- 11 that's just a general question that maybe we can get 12 an answer for? 13 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Sure. Go ahead. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: So, I didn't 15 get a chance to look at the mod. I'll come back and 16 get on the list a little bit later then? Thank you. 17 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: No problem. 18 Council Member Gerson, did you have a 19 question? 20 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Are we, Mr. 21 Chair, are we entertaining questions on the proposed 22 FY '09 Budget at this time, or only the 23 modifications? 24 Mr. Chair, are we entertaining 25 questions on the FY '09 budget at this time, or only 39 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 modifications? 3 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: The Finance staff 4 is also here to talk about the FY '09 Budget, if you 5 like. But Mr. Klein may be able to answer, as well. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Oh, I don't 7 want to disappoint Mr. Klein by not raising some 8 questions, which I'm sure he would expect of me. 9 So, just two questions pertaining to 10 the Capital Budget proposed for FY '09: What is the 11 total commitment amount proposed for FY '09 in 12 Capital? 13 MR. KLEIN: Actually, this plan has a 14 net addition of 376 million for FY '09 from the 15 amount proposed at the Executive Budget. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: So, bring us 17 up to the total, 18 point? 18 MR. KLEIN: Actually, if you take a 19 look at your Resolution A, it's the first table. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Which we just 21 got a few moments ago. 22 MR. KLEIN: Okay. It's the first table 23 there. It's on the first page. There's a summary 24 document. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: All right. 40 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Well, in the interest of time, as I look for that, I 3 mean, we're in the, with the 376 million, we're -- 4 here it is. We're, you know, certainly above 18 5 billion. 6 Could you explain why the 7 Administration has not included with the addition of 8 this three-hundred and, I think you said seventy-six 9 million, the additional $45 million requested by 10 CUNY, the City University of New York, to assure the 11 reconstruction of Fiterman Hall? 12 MR. KLEIN: Well, it was something 13 that was discussed with the Council staff during the 14 negotiations, and it was not part of the final 15 arrangement. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Well, I know 17 that. But I'm asking -- 18 MR. KLEIN: These are the Council 19 additions to the budget. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: I'm asking why 21 the Administration did not. We all know the history 22 of this building damaged under 9/11, it's going to 23 be deconstructed and decontaminated. If we don't go 24 forward, there will be another hole in the ground in 25 Lower Manhattan, and the students will be deprived 41 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 of the use of this vital facility. 3 The State has put in, in the current 4 past session over $90 million. Much, if not all of 5 it, cannot be accessed without a corresponding 6 amount by the City. Why did the Administration not 7 propose, from the Administration, to include the 8 necessary amount to assure that this will go forward 9 without interruption so we don't (a) delay time, and 10 (b) pay more in the future when it eventually will 11 have to go ahead? 12 Why is there nothing in the current 13 Capital Budget for the reconstruction of a building 14 damaged on the attack of 9/11? 15 MR. KLEIN: I think there was included 16 in the Executive Budget money for the 17 reconstruction. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Is that for FY 19 '010, or was that moved up? 20 MR. KLEIN: I'm not certain what year 21 it was in, but I believe there was an amount in the 22 Executive Budget. There was no addition made during 23 the adoption. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Okay, a final 25 question, Mr. Chair. 42 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Can you assure us that with whatever 3 is in the Executive Budget, that sufficient funds 4 exist so that DSNY, the Dormitory Authority, may 5 proceed with the contracting for the reconstruction 6 so that there will be no interruption, no new hole 7 in the ground in Lower Manhattan and no delay due to 8 a budgetary omission in the reconstruction? Can you 9 give us that assurance? 10 MR. KLEIN: No, I can't. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Thank you very 12 much, Mr. Chair. 13 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 14 Council member. 15 Council Member Martinez. 16 Council Member Martinez? 17 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Right here, 18 Mr. Chair. 19 I just want to ask the question, in 20 reference to the budget for the DAs and the elected 21 officials, I was under the assumption that the 22 Administration was going to pick up, and when I look 23 at our Schedule C, I still see it under the Council. 24 Was there any reason why the Administration didn't 25 pick up the elected officials? 43 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 MR. KLEIN: There were no adds by the 3 Administration in this budget. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: There were 5 what? 6 MR. KLEIN: There were no additions by 7 the Administration as part of this Exec, as part of 8 this adoption. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 10 Mr. Chair. 11 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 12 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Council Member 13 Fidler. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: As the 15 Chairman says, we'll be happy to take full credit 16 for restoring the DAs' budgets. 17 Actually -- 18 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: And all the other 19 elected officials, as well. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Yes. 21 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: And community 22 boards. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Stu, I 24 actually have some serious questions for you about 25 MN 6, the Revenue Mod, which is recognizing, once 44 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 again, an addition of $69 million net in revenue 3 from various tax sources for the current fiscal 4 year; is that accurate? 5 MR. KLEIN: Actually, the revenue that 6 we're receiving from taxes is going down. It's the 7 revenue that is coming in from the miscellaneous 8 revenue that is going up and generating most of that 9 increase. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: That's not 11 exactly accurate. 12 I mean, certainly in some cases 13 that's accurate, and some taxes have gone down. But 14 other revenues from taxes have gone up. Sales tax 15 gone up, franchise tax has gone up. I mean, I can go 16 through this more carefully, but some of the 17 revenues have gone up. 18 In any event, since dollars are 19 dollars and they're fungible, this does in fact 20 represent an increase of $69 million in revenue that 21 we are, once again, recognizing, after recognizing 22 2.9 billion a month ago. 23 MR. KLEIN: The 69 is an increase in 24 revenue. It's not an increase in tax revenue. The 25 tax -- 45 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: It's an 3 increase. 4 MR. KLEIN: The tax revenue -- 5 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: I'm not trying 6 to be cute. Money is money. It is a recognition of 7 $69 million net in revenue that was not anticipated. 8 MR. KLEIN: Correct. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: And, you know, 10 obviously the month is not over and I'm sure these 11 numbers weren't run ten minutes ago. Is it fair to 12 say that there will be another recognition of 30 13 million, 40 million? 14 MR. KLEIN: No. I think -- 15 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Some time in 16 maybe August? 17 MR. KLEIN: I think that -- well, I 18 mean, it's just about June 30th, these numbers are 19 final for the current fiscal year. And certainly, 20 the news since adoption on overall, on the overall 21 economy is not good. I wouldn't anticipate there 22 being significant new revenues. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Stu, that's 24 not exactly accurate. 25 I mean, yes, it is almost June 30th, 46 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 but these numbers aren't up-to-date in every one of 3 these categories, some of them lag a couple of weeks 4 behind. Unless Ray, from our Finance staff, is 5 misleading me. 6 So, it's my understanding that based 7 upon these numbers, we can probably assume there is 8 going to be additional revenue recognized some time 9 after the Fiscal Year. 10 As an accounting statement, this 11 closes the books on the year, but there will be 12 revenue that was generated during June that was 13 above plan that we will eventually be called upon to 14 recognize in some way. 15 MR. KLEIN: That's not correct. 16 This revenue includes our forecast 17 for the end of Fiscal '08, it includes collection 18 data through Friday. We have a pretty good idea of 19 what collections are going to be. We have a 60-day 20 accrual period, for which we continue to accrue 21 revenue in July and August -- 22 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: So that over 23 the next 60 days we're going to accrue more revenue 24 above this, right? 25 MR. KLEIN: Not above our plan. 47 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: How do you 3 know? 4 MR. KLEIN: I don't, but our best 5 estimate -- 6 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: And since your 7 plan, up to now, has been off by, oh, $3 billion, I 8 mean in all seriousness, no kidding around here, 9 Stu, I mean there is going to be another 20 or 30 10 million probably, which would actually bring it very 11 closely in line with the Council Finance's staff's 12 estimate of what revenues there were in this year's 13 budget that were not recognized by OMB, for the 14 record. 15 MR. KLEIN: For the record, our 16 estimate at this time represents our best view as to 17 what we're going to collect. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: So, let me 19 talk to -- 20 MR. KLEIN: We don't go back and 21 generally modify the budget after this MN. That's in 22 a rare circumstance that we do that. I think we've 23 done it once or twice over the past budget years. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: It's done in a 25 different accounting way. I can't really explain it, 48 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 because that's your job, not mine. But the money 3 will come in and it's not like we're going to ignore 4 it. 5 So, let me ask you about something 6 specific that was brought to my attention, that the 7 Mayor's Executive Budget is projecting revenues for 8 parking tickets, ECBs, building violations, as going 9 down significantly for the year, the Fiscal Year 10 2009. Yet, as you have just eloquently stated, it's 11 not tax revenues that are going up, it's other 12 things, and as I look at ECB's, I see we are 13 recognizing $6 million in additional revenue there, 14 and since we, you know, I don't know that the 15 economy is going to affect revenue estimates for the 16 ticketing that the City of New York seems to, you 17 know, takes its pleasure in, why would there -- why 18 in God's name would the Executive Budget suggest 19 that we're going to have a decrease in revenue from 20 the other miscellaneous sources, like tickets? 21 MR. KLEIN: Well, what's going down 22 year-to-year is miscellaneous revenue, and I think 23 it's going down by five- or six-hundred million 24 dollars, between this year and next. And there are 25 two very major reasons for that. 49 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 One is that this year we have got an 3 influx of revenue from TSC, which was the Tobacco 4 Securitization Corporation, and we got like $500 5 million. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: No, Stu, I 7 don't want to interrupt -- 8 MR. KLEIN: I'm serious. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: But your off 10 topic. 11 MR. KLEIN: I'm not off topic. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Because I'm 13 not asking you about the other miscellaneous 14 revenues, I'm asking you about fines. And the 15 Executive Budget Plan is very, very specific. I saw 16 it yesterday -- 17 MR. KLEIN: Mm-hmm. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: -- In saying 19 that ECB fines are going to go down in collections, 20 Building's fines are going to go down in 21 collections, parking fines are going to go down in 22 collections. And in this document right here in 23 front of me, I see fines, general, up 1.25. Fines, 24 general again, up 1.5. Fines, ECB, up 6 million. So, 25 I'm just kind of wondering why we're low balling the 50 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 fine revenue, as we move forward, the one thing 3 that's not really affected, unfortunately, by the 4 economy? Why are we doing that? 5 MR. KLEIN: Just one minute. 6 Okay, if you look at "Fine Revenue," 7 and I'm not -- I'll be happy to have this discussion 8 with you later, but -- 9 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Off the 10 record. 11 MR. KLEIN: -- Only because I didn't 12 come prepared to talk about this in great detail. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: I understand, 14 but, you know -- 15 MR. KLEIN: Let me just read you the 16 last few years' revenues from fines. 17 It was 724 in '06; 741 in '07; in '08 18 was 823. A bad year. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Going up every 20 year. 21 MR. KLEIN: Yes. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Right. 23 MR. KLEIN: No, but it went up 24 tremendously this year, which would indicate to me 25 there is a reason -- 51 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: But -- 3 MR. KLEIN: And I want to go back and 4 look at it. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: You know, 6 that's fair enough, but I know that you didn't come 7 here in a $59.1 billion budget, give or take a 8 rounding error, to discuss this specifically. But 9 the fact is, you are here with an MN recognizing 10 additional revenue in the very areas that you are 11 suggesting in the Executive Plan will go down, 12 because you've underestimated those, too. And you 13 know, I guess my point is that, you know, if we're 14 going to be honest and transparent in the budget 15 process, we ought to recognize the revenue that we 16 all honestly think is going to be there, so that 17 when we have to make the hard and obnoxious choices 18 that are being asked to make of this budget, we're 19 doing it on real numbers. And the fine figures are 20 clearly not real. 21 And I will just add, and as a 22 comment, that I'm seeing that out of the $69 million 23 that we are recognizing, we're putting 60 million 24 into the Health Care Trust Fund, which may or may 25 not be a good thing, but given the choices that we 52 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 have had to make, cutting health programs and 3 cutting other things, I think is not a choice this 4 Council would have made if the Mayor had given us an 5 opportunity to participate in that decision with all 6 the facts on the table. 7 MR. KLEIN: If I could just comment 8 about the Health Care Trust Fund for a moment? 9 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Yes, please, 10 comment. 11 Is everybody going to stay in the 12 Health Care Trust Fund, or is that going to be used 13 to prepay other expenses? 14 MR. KLEIN: That's being used to 15 prepay other expenses. 16 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: That's what I 17 thought. 18 MR. KLEIN: That's being used to 19 prepay health, retiree health care costs that would 20 normally come due next year. 21 It's not similar to the two and a 22 half billion dollars that was placed in that fund in 23 prior years. This is just like prepaying debt 24 service. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: So, in the 53 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 interest of transparency, this is like a fake, you 3 know, fake move, right? It's not really -- 4 MR. KLEIN: No, it's not a fake move 5 at all. We've called it -- 6 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: It's not 7 really. We're prepaying expenses. And, again, it's a 8 decision that has been taken away from this Council 9 by and large because we are deliberately 10 underestimating fine revenue in the City of New 11 York. That's what's happening. That's my point. I 12 don't expect you to answer for the Mayor, Stu. I 13 expect you to go home and look at your rotisserie 14 baseball team and get to business. 15 You know, the fact of the matter is, 16 this, I saw these numbers yesterday, in terms of the 17 Executive Plan, and they are entirely inconsistent 18 with this Revenue Mod, all right? 19 Because, obviously, as much as they 20 are going up, they're still trending upward as of 21 Friday afternoon, which you tell me these numbers 22 are accurate as of. 23 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 24 Council member. 25 Council Member Brewer. 54 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: I just have a 3 question about the Buildings Department in the mod, 4 because today I was at 150 Amsterdam, with a very 5 large crane going up, well organized. A Building 6 Department staff member there all day. I was there 7 for most of the day. 8 But in general, is there any increase 9 in the Department of Buildings for crane operators? 10 Because every time I pick up the newspaper, it does 11 seem to me that there are fewer and fewer crane 12 operators available. And there was one lonely 13 gentleman there today with about 50 private sector 14 construction workers, he was trying to keep tabs on 15 everyone. 16 MR. KLEIN: This mod doesn't include 17 anything for this year. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: That's what it 19 looks like. 20 So -- 21 MR. KLEIN: But -- 22 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Go ahead. 23 MR. KLEIN: I mean, this is a 24 situation where we're continuing to work with the 25 Buildings Department to make certain that they have 55 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 the appropriate level of resources to do their job. 3 It's a fee-supported agency. It's not like it's a 4 drain on the budget, and we're working very closely 5 with them to come up with a plan. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Does that mean 7 that there could be another mod that would give them 8 more money, if appropriate and if needed? 9 MR. KLEIN: There are always more mods 10 that come before you during the year. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: I'm aware of 12 that. 13 Are you looking carefully, 14 particularly at the crane issue, in terms of 15 staffing? 16 MR. KLEIN: I'm sure that the 17 Department is approaching -- is addressing that. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: All right. 19 Thank you. 20 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 21 Council member. 22 Council Member Koppell. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: I would like 24 to follow-up a little bit on Council Member Fidler's 25 question. 56 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 The 69 million, most of which is 3 being put into the Health Care Trust Fund, you said 4 that is going to be used to pay expenses in which 5 fiscal year? 6 MR. KLEIN: We will be paying expenses 7 in Fiscal '08 that would be due in Fiscal '09 -- 8 that would otherwise be due in Fiscal '09. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: In Fiscal 10 '08, the current year? 11 MR. KLEIN: We're paying expenses in 12 '08 that would normally be due in '09. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: So, that $60 14 million is being used to reduce, if you will, the 15 gap for '09? 16 MR. KLEIN: Yes. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Is that what 18 you're saying? 19 MR. KLEIN: It makes 60 million 20 available for other things in '09. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: And was that 22 -- 23 MR. KLEIN: Including changes that the 24 Council is making during this adoption. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: So, this is 57 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 money that was not contemplated in the Executive 3 Budget? 4 MR. KLEIN: Correct. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: So, it's 6 additional money that basically, it's additional 7 money available for '09 that came about after the 8 Executive Budget, right? 9 MR. KLEIN: Correct. 10 There is also additional expenses 11 that have come about since the Executive Budget, 12 which are being addressed in this mod. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: But the 14 Health Care Trust Fund money is not going to be 15 saved for some future year? 16 MR. KLEIN: Not this -- 17 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: This part. 18 MR. KLEIN: -- Sixty-million dollars. 19 There's two and a half billion dollars in the Trust 20 Fund right now, which is being saved for future 21 years. This 60 is just being used to prepay '09 22 expenses. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Then why is 24 it being put into the Trust Fund? 25 MR. KLEIN: Basically under the 58 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Accounting Rules there are only certain expenses 3 that we can prepay during the year. Debt service is 4 the one we usually do. 5 We also prepay subsidies to the 6 Transit Authority and Health and Hospitals 7 Corporation and the Libraries. We've done just about 8 all of those other subsidies so we could do so. We 9 thought this was an appropriate use. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: As long as 11 it's not being put aside for future years it doesn't 12 bother me. 13 MR. KLEIN: It is absolutely not. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Okay. Thank 15 you. 16 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 17 Council Member. 18 Council Member Reyna. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Mr. Klein, good 20 evening. 21 I just wanted to ask you, this 22 particular document from the New York City 23 Department of Education website, are you familiar 24 with it? 25 MR. KLEIN: No, I'm not. 59 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And so you 3 would not be able to answer questions? 4 MR. KLEIN: No. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Who would? 6 MR. KLEIN: The Department. It's their 7 document. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And we just let 9 the Department go. 10 Is someone here from the Department 11 of Education? 12 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Well, the people 13 that were here from the Department of Education were 14 on the Capital side. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And that's what 16 was mentioned here. But is there anyone who can 17 speak on behalf of the Department on the Expense 18 side? 19 Clearly, OMB is not here prepared to 20 speak on this document, and this is the money that 21 many organizations and communities are going to be 22 suffering for, and so I'd like an explanation on 23 this document. 24 There is discretion being used as to 25 how money was allocated. 60 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Okay, Preston 3 Niblack, our Director of Finance, will attempt to 4 answer your questions. 5 Just remember this is his first 6 budget, Diana. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: I respectfully 8 disagree that Preston should be up here. It is 9 disappointing -- Preston, this is not your fault -- 10 but there should be someone being held accountable 11 here. And, so, who is that? 12 We're talking about additional 13 funding that was given to the Department of 14 Education to restore cuts. 15 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Well, Mr. 16 Niblack, can you attempt to say what you think is 17 happening here? 18 Just identify your name and title for 19 the record, please. 20 MR. NIBLACK: My name is Preston 21 Niblack. I'm Finance Director for the New York City 22 Council. 23 I am not sufficiently familiar with 24 this presentation that the DOE provided with us to 25 be able to like walk you through every column. 61 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 What I can do is give you the general 3 formula that was used, the general way that we 4 agreed with DOE to use the additional money that was 5 added to the Department's budget to restore school 6 classrooms. 7 We added $129 million total to the 8 DOE budget. Approximately 125 million of that was to 9 go directly into classrooms. It was distribu -- as 10 City money, it was not subject to the C4E and it was 11 distributed according to, basically to take all the 12 schools that had budget cuts in '09 to make -- bring 13 them up to a level where they had the same budget as 14 they had in the previous year. So, no school 15 suffered a cut. 16 All of the C4E money, and now it's, 17 you know, I'm not sure I can remember the numbers 18 off the top of my head, but we'll certainly, you 19 know, make all of that available, all of the C4E 20 money was distributed per the formula so that it 21 went to the highest-need schools. So, the 22 highest-need schools should see increases that are, 23 you know, I think up to a maximum, if I recall, 24 about six or six and a half percent. 25 So, the basic range is no school has 62 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 a cut compared to the mid-year '08 situation, and 3 some schools, the high-need, high C4E-dollar 4 schools, should have increases on a year-over-year 5 basis. 6 That's what this spread sheet is 7 supposed to show on a school-by-school, 8 district-by-district basis. And, again, I can't, you 9 know, I haven't perused it personally in detail, 10 and, so, I can't explain it exactly, and we'll have 11 to look at it more carefully. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And I'd like to 13 just let the record reflect that this document, 14 using one example from my district of a high-need 15 school, is not representative of what you've just 16 explained to us. 17 And, so, if I read correctly, there 18 is discretion being used here, and I'd like to know 19 who used discretion and how was discretion used? 20 MR. NIBLACK: We will certainly, we 21 will look at these more closely, and in the next 22 couple of weeks we will try to, you know, distribute 23 to all the members an explanation, general 24 explanation of how this spread sheet is set up, and 25 the general process by which funds were allocated to 63 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 each school under the agreement we have with DOE. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And it's my 4 understanding, once this if voted on, there is no 5 changes. 6 MR. NIBLACK: The C4E proposal -- 7 first of all, we're not voting on this particular 8 document, so there is no vote that's taking place on 9 this allocation by schools. This was simply provided 10 by the Department and we distributed it as part of 11 the package before you, but it is not a voting 12 document. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: But this is the 14 budget that principals right now are planning their 15 school year for '08/'09? 16 MR. NIBLACK: I believe that's 17 correct, yes. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And, so, these 19 allocations of funds cannot change. 20 And I wasn't referring to discretion 21 on the C4E dollars, because obviously, that has 22 mandated points of agreements that have to be met, 23 but the City tax levy dollars were in some cases 24 used to restore, and in some cases nothing was 25 restored with the City tax levy dollars, where the 64 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 C4E took on the cut, the complete cut. 3 MR. NIBLACK: In principle, the way 4 that this was supposed to work in our agreement with 5 DOE, was that the City money was used to bring those 6 schools that would have suffered cuts in '09 up to 7 no cut, and that was -- to that extent there was 8 some flexibility in the use of those funds. They 9 were not subject to the C4E distribution. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And I see the 11 contrary to that on this document. 12 MR. NIBLACK: Right. And we'll have to 13 look at that more closely and get back to you. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: So, we are not 15 voting on this particular allocation of City tax 16 levy dollars? 17 MR. NIBLACK: That's correct. 18 The C4E, I mean we're voting on the 19 overall DOE budget, which includes the $129 million 20 City Funds Restoration that the Council approved and 21 is reflected in the budget now as City funds. 22 The Contract for Excellence is, of 23 course, a proposal at this point that has to be 24 approved by the State Education Department, and 25 assuming that it is approved, this is what the 65 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 budget should look like for each school, although, 3 as I say, this is not -- again, I can't assure you 4 that this is the final budget for each school, I 5 don't know that for sure. But in principle, this is 6 how the money should be allocated, if the C4E is 7 approved and if the 129 million that the Council 8 added is distributed as we agreed with DOE. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Our City tax 10 levy dollars are dollars for the budget we are 11 voting on today? 12 MR. NIBLACK: That's correct. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: And so those 14 figures cannot be changed? 15 MR. NIBLACK: They can be -- I mean, 16 if we believe that they are not being distributed 17 according to the agreement that we had that's 18 reflected in the letter that Chancellor sent to the 19 Speaker -- 20 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: That is exactly 21 what I'm saying. 22 MR. NIBLACK: Then we should certainly 23 go back to -- if we decide that that's the case, we 24 will certainly go back to the Department of 25 Education and review how they've done this with 66 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 them. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Thank you. 4 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Thank you, 5 Council member. 6 I want to remind my colleagues that 7 the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we get to 8 go into the Chamber to vote on the budget. If that 9 is helpful to anyone. 10 Okay, I'm going to state what we're 11 going to vote on -- because there are a lot of items 12 that are being coupled, and I just want to make it 13 perfectly clear, and I need my glasses for this, 14 because it's handwritten in small print. 15 We're going to vote on the following 16 items this evening that will be coupled: 17 Number 1) Transparency Fiscal '08 18 Resolution, preconsidered. 19 Number 2) A preconsidered resolution 20 relating to the adjusted base proportion of each 21 class of real property. 22 3) A preconsidered resolution 23 relating to current base proportion. 24 4) An M and preconsidered resolution 25 fixing the tax rates. 67 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 5) M 1020 and companion Resolutions 3 1510 and 1511. Expense, Revenue and Contract Budget. 4 6) M 1021, companion Resolutions 1512 5 and 153, the Capital Budget. 6 7) M 1022, plus the companion 7 Resolution 1514. Community Development Budget. 8 8) Preconsidered M and companion 9 resolution, Chancellor's Five-Year Capital Plan 10 Annual Amendment. 11 9) Preconsidered M and Reso MN 5. 12 Expense Modification; and 13 10) Preconsidered M and Reso MN 6. 14 Revenue Modification. 15 And the following items are coupled 16 to be filed: 17 M 912, M 913, M 914, M 915, M 916, M 18 917, M 918, M 1023, M 1024, M 1025, M 1026, and M 19 1027. 20 I also want to remind my colleagues 21 that if you have any conflict of interest to 22 disclose, please disclose it when you're called upon 23 to vote. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Go ahead. 25 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Council Member 68 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Gerson. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Just a point 4 of information. 5 Do I understand you to say that we 6 need to reiterate any conflicts, even if they are 7 listed in the printed material? 8 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: I have been told, 9 advised by Counsel, that you should orally disclose 10 any conflicts on voting, both in Finance, as well as 11 on the floor. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Even if 13 printed? 14 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Uh -- 15 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Okay. 16 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Even if printed. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Thank you. 18 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Call the roll. 19 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Weprin. 20 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Aye on all. And I 21 would like to disclose that we will be voting on 22 some budget items involving Queens Borough Community 23 College, where my wife will be starting tomorrow as 24 Director of Special Events. Although I will point 25 out for the record that she will not be paid out of 69 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 City funds, but will be paid out of Research 3 Foundation funds. 4 I vote aye on all. 5 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Rivera. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: I vote aye on 7 all. 8 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Reyna. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Aye. 10 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Baez. 11 (No response.) 12 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Brewer. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: I vote aye. I 14 teach at Hunter College. I love my class, and I also 15 -- my husband is a part-time lecturer at the New 16 York Historical Society. 17 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Comrie. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Aye on all. 19 And I'd like to remind folks that my 20 wife is a volunteer Board member at King Man im 21 Museum, and is also part-time working at York 22 College, the only public college in my district, 23 that I'm happy to fund. 24 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: DeBlasio. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER DeBLASIO: I'd like to 70 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 disclose for the record I'm voting in favor of the 3 proposed budget, which includes funding for Prospect 4 Park Alliance, at which I am an ex-officio Board 5 member, and for Maimonides Medical Center, for which 6 my wife works as an Assistant Vice President. They 7 are both fine programs and I am proud to note these 8 affiliations, and look forward to voting for the 9 budget. 10 Aye on all. 11 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Fidler. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Before I vote, 13 I've been advised by Legal that I need to disclose 14 that my wife, Robin, the love of my life, substitute 15 teaches six to 12 times a year in District 22, and 16 there is money in this budget for District 22 17 schools. I don't believe that any of it goes 18 directly to any school that she has substitute -- 19 taught. No, I have not been advised by Counsel to 20 disclose the other things I've disclosed before in 21 this insane world, I want to do it on videotape. I 22 want to disclose that I am an Honorary Director of 23 the Tanger Hillel at Brooklyn College, the Wyckoff 24 House Association. I represent this Council as a 25 Board member of the Center for New York City 71 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Neighborhoods, all groups that receive money in this 3 budget. Debbie Malone, a member of the Council 4 staff, is married to the Executive Director of 5 Millennium Development and Bergen Beach Youth 6 Organization, which receives money. Brian Lee, of my 7 staff, is married to Laurie Bruno Lee, who works for 8 some part of SUNY Downstate Medical Center. All of 9 those groups are well deserving of funding. And I 10 also want to disclose that I'm in the same 11 rotisserie baseball league with Stu Klein and I'm 12 desperately trying to make a trade with him. 13 And having made all of those 14 disclosures, I vote aye on all. 15 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Gennaro. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Yes. 17 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Gerson. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Thank you. 19 Mr. Chair, Sophie Gerson, my mother, 20 is an unpaid member of the Board of Directors of 21 Friends of LaGuardia Place. Lucy Sezari, a volunteer 22 at our district office, also is an unpaid member of 23 the Board of Directors of Friends of LaGuardia 24 Place. Jing Yu Yin, an aid in our district office, 25 is a senior aid with the Chinese-American Planning 72 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 Council. 3 With that and the interest of time I 4 will defer my comments on the budget on which we're 5 voting to the Stated session, and I vote aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Gioia. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER GIOIA: Thank you. I 8 will be voting yes, as well. I would like to 9 disclose that I'm an ex-officio Board member of the 10 PS 1 Contemporary Art Museum, a MoMA affiliate; an 11 ex-officio member of Museum of Moving Image; and ex 12 -- I'm sorry, ex-officio Board member of the Museum 13 of Moving Image; and an ex-officio member of the 14 Advisory Committee to City Year New York. All of the 15 organizations receive funding in the City budget. 16 With that, I vote yes. 17 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Jackson. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Thank you, 19 Mr. Chair. I've been advised by Counsel I need to 20 advise this Finance Committee and the Stated Meeting 21 and General Public, that I would like to disclose 22 that I am voting in favor of the proposed budget, 23 which includes funding for the New York City Public 24 Access Law Library, an excellent program that makes 25 law libraries available to general public at no fee, 73 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 and I'm proud to be affiliated with this group and 3 organization. 4 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Koppell. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Mr. Chair, I 6 have disclosed in written documents that I'm 7 ex-officio Board member of a number of local 8 organizations that receive funding in this budget. 9 I vote aye. 10 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: McMahon. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Mr. Chairman, 12 there is an old adage, "You can pick your friends, 13 but you can't pick your relatives." I feel it 14 necessary to disclose that I have two brothers who 15 work as lobbyists, although to my knowledge -- 16 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Do they lobby in 17 Washington also? 18 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: I don't know. 19 I don't know. 20 But it can be that they have clients 21 who are in this budget, I don't know that. I have 22 not advocated any on their behalf. I do not know who 23 their clients are, except in very limited 24 circumstances. But I disclose that. 25 I would also like to disclose that on 74 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 a regular basis I ride the Staten Island Ferry, 3 which is free, and we're voting for the DOT budget 4 today, which would mean that I'm getting myself a 5 free ride on the ferry. 6 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: How do you vote, 7 Council member? 8 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: I vote aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Sears. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Thank you. 11 Before I vote on the budget, I would 12 like to disclose for the record that the budget 13 includes funding for the Executive Leadership 14 Institute of CSA. I believe it's a fine program, and 15 I'm quite proud to note that my son Stewart from 16 time to time contracts with the CSA. 17 So, with that, I vote aye on all. 18 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Yassky. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Mr. Chair, I 20 would like to disclose to you and to the other 21 members of the Committee, that my wife is an 22 employee of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and 23 while they are not listed in Schedule C or by name 24 anywhere I believe in the budget documents, they do 25 receive, I believe City funding. So, I wish to 75 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 disclose that. 3 I vote aye on all items before us. 4 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Gentile. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: In voting on 6 this budget, which includes funding for IS 259, 7 where my sister is the Parent Coordinator, I vote 8 aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Ignizio. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: I feel like I 11 should disclose something, but I have nothing. And I 12 vote aye. 13 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Oddo. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: Mr. Chairman? 15 Mr. Chairman, I'd like to disclose that I have a 16 conflict with the Designated Hitter Rule. I have 17 since its inception in 1973. 18 I also have a conflict with 19 cholesterol and Norwegian news reporters, and I vote 20 yes. 21 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: What about U 22 Tube? What about U Tube, Council member? 23 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Baez. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER BAEZ: Thank you. 25 I would at this time also like to 76 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 disclose that I have a brother, Felix Baez, working 3 at NYU for the last 20 years, and an employee of 4 NYU, a fine institution, and very proud that my 5 brother Felix has worked in that institution. He 6 made his 20th year a few months ago. And I vote aye. 7 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Vann. 8 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: We're voting. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Everyone has 10 voted? 11 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Yes. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Except me? 13 Everyone? 14 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: We're up to you. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Yes. I just 16 thumbed through the budget and all the pages are 17 there. 18 I would like to -- 19 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: How many are 20 there? 21 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: More than you've 22 read. 23 I would like to disclose that I am 24 voting in favor of this proposed budget, which 25 includes funding for Medgar Evers College, where my 77 1 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2 daughters, and a son-in-law are employed. 3 I am also voting, and I understand 4 that there is funds that goes to the Black National 5 Leadership Commission on AIDS, where I have been a 6 member of the Board since 1987, which I have 7 disclosed previously, and I do so tonight. 8 Other than that, I vote aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: By a vote of 20 10 in the affirmative, zero in the negative and no 11 abstentions, all items have been adopted. 12 Members, please sign the Committee 13 reports. 14 Thank you. 15 CHAIRPERSON WEPRIN: Okay, we're going 16 to adjourn, right? Adjourn? 17 Okay, we're going to adjourn this 18 meeting, and I'm going to keep the roll open until 19 the Stated Meeting, for those members of the Finance 20 Committee that would like to vote, and we are going 21 to proceed directly into the Chamber for the full 22 vote. 23 Other than that, we're adjourned. 24 (Hearing concluded at 9:30 p.m.) 25 78 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 5 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 6 COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified 10 Shorthand Reporter, do hereby certify that the 11 foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the 12 within proceeding. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related to any of the parties to this action by 15 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 16 interested in the outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 18 set my hand this 29th day of June 2008. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 79 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified Shorthand 10 Reporter and a Notary Public in and for the State of 11 New York, do hereby certify the aforesaid to be a 12 true and accurate copy of the transcription of the 13 audio tapes of this hearing. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ----------------------- CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25