Majority Whip Hanks questions Comptroller on fiscal accountability concerns and capital delivery

So next we have Majority Whip Hanks, followed by Councilmember Narcisse.

Thank you, Chair.

Good afternoon.

Hi, Council Member.

Oh, yeah.

So my questions.

Okay.

The Comptroller's Office regularly identifies risks and inefficiencies in city spending through audits and oversight reports.

Based on your office's recent finding, which agencies or areas of city government present the greatest concerns regarding fiscal accountability?

Or operational inefficiency.

Councilwoman, you say, what is my greatest concern for operational efficiency?

What areas of city government present the greatest concerns regarding fiscal accountability or operational inefficiency?

Okay.

My office oversees the contracting process.

As you know, we review and certify contracts.

There's a special case at the Department of Ed, which has authority for contracts under $25,000 that actually, they don't have to come to us for registration.

They can self-register there.

And that creates a little bit of a blind spot for us.

They do eventually show up in Passport.

I say eventually because 95% of the contracts start before they're registered.

So we don't often have...

real-time eyes on them.

And in December, a report came out from the Dewey's investigator that there are some challenges there.

So we're looking into this.

There are a shocking number.

I think it's over 150,000 times a year.

These small contracts are used.

I was surprised when I heard that number, but again, these are under 25,000.

There's not as much control, and so this is something we're looking at.

I used to run a not-for-profit, so I completely understand that.

Thank you for that.

The city's capital process continues to face delays in moving projects from funding to actual construction.

From the comptroller's perspective, what reforms are most urgently needed to improve capital project delivery and ensure neighborhoods with longstanding infrastructure needs are not continually left behind?

It is an absolute scandal that it costs $5 million on average to build a parks bathroom, that it costs $80 to $100 million to install elevators and ramps in a subway station.

This is limiting our city's ability to thrive and to build for the future.

And there are generations of policies which have accumulated to make this happen.

It is all of them well-intentioned.

It is concerns about environmental protection.

about community input, about safety, about design criteria, et cetera.

The accumulation is costs that are just out of control.

And we've got to rein it in.

We made a big step forward, thanks to the governor and the state legislature, on reining in SECRA.

In the budget that was just passed.

That's going to help expedite review.

But there's just a myriad other obstacles that have to be cleared away that I would love to partner with you on.

We could do an entire hearing on this topic, but it's an urgent priority.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Great.

Councilmember Narcisse, followed by Wong.