Philadelphia isn't the only city to have trouble accounting for public dollars given to private non-profits. City Council members in New York City were apparently using non-profits in an elaborate shell game to hide budget dollars from the Mayor. Here is a blurb that explains the basics from the New York Times story:
The millions of dollars that council members dole out to community groups each year rarely received attention until last month, when it was revealed that the Council had been using the names of fictitious groups to park money that it could later spend without going through the normal budget review process.
Now a spectrum of analysts, from auditors for the city comptroller to federal investigators to lawyers for the city’s Department of Investigation, are scrutinizing just what kinds of programs City Council members are financing with the discretionary funds they control.
The obvious It's Our Money question is: could this possibly happen in Philadelphia? It's unlikely. New York City Council has a lot more control over how money is spent. They actually have a budget of their own and can make expenditures independent of the mayor. In contrast, individual council members in Philadelphia do not have access to much in the way of discretionary funds. The only potential exception is the funding provided for capital improvements in the Recreation Department. Members of Council in Philadelphia can decide where to spend that money, but it must be at a recreation center or some other public facility.
Comments (1)
I'm pretty sure it happened in Philadelphia for at least the last 8 years, with the knowledge and approval of the mayor.
Posted by Goofy | April 28, 2008 3:47 PM