David Yassky

April 11, 2008 

Today I stood with Speaker Quinn and my colleague Dan Garodnick along with several other Council Members to announce a new package of budget reforms that will open up the budget process to all New Yorkers. 

Not only did Speaker Quinn put forward important reforms of her own, but she also embraced several proposals recommended by Dan Garodnick and myself.

These reforms will bring a historic level of transparency to the budget process, and I am thrilled to be a part of their enactment.

• The creation of a publicly searchable online database including detailed information on all organizations receiving earmarked funding

• Requiring all organizations seeking earmarked funding to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. This is similar to the reforms enacted at the state level by Attorney General Cuomo.

• Requiring that any mid-year transfers in earmark funding from one organization to another be accomplished by a budget modification approved by a vote of the City Council, and not by a letter or email from Council staff to an agency.

• We have further proposed yearly audits of all member earmarks. We commend the Comptroller’s actions to this end, and we urge the Council to codify this practice.

Our goal is transparency in the City budget, and these reforms will go a long way toward accomplishing that.

Click here to read David's op-ed on budget reform in the New York Post