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May 10, 2011
Controversial takeover of Metro Tech BID approve
The Brooklyn Blog [NYPost.com]
by Rich Calder
Something is rotten in Metro Tech.
Mayor Bloomberg and the borough’s biggest developer have prevailed in a heated Downtown Brooklyn turf war.
A development corporation created by Bloomberg to spur economic development in Downtown Brooklyn was awarded a $216,667-a-year contract to run daily operations of a striving Business Improvement District representing 25 square blocks in and around Metro Tech Center.
The decision today by Metro Tech BID to hire Downtown Brooklyn Partnership to manage the business improvement district’s daily operations -- and a $2.6 million budget raised through a neighborhood property tax -- ends more than two years of bickering by BID board members split over the plan.
The Partnership was granted the new responsibilities despite Monday’s release of an audit by Comptroller John Liu that ripped it for keeping shoddy payroll records, poorly documenting private donations and snubbing competitive-bidding laws.
...A faction, including top BID brass, had fought the Partnership plan despite pressure from City Hall and developer Forest City Ratner, which built Metro Tech’s office complex in the 1980s.
Related coverage...
NY Post, Comptroller report rips city's Downtown Brooklyn development corp.
Liu’s audit relies on fiscal 2009 data, which showed the Partnership ended the period with a $319,956 deficit.
It states that 45 percent of the Partnership’s $2.7 million budget is for payroll – including $220,000 for its president, Joe Chan – but the Partnership fails to correctly maintain time sheets that show whether employees actually work all the hours they’re paid for.
The report also states the Partnership is not accurately recording private donations it receives, which could affect matching government grants the Partnership is eligible to obtain. And it says the Partnership isn’t following city guidelines when awarding contracts, including some cases where the Partnership, which was created in 2006, didn’t solicit enough competitive bids.
“Ironically, the NYC Comptroller’s audit of DBP reveals that the Partnership has poor bookkeeping (including timekeeping and tracking of private contributions) and some procurement issues, which leads one to ask why would the MetroTech Board vote to give DBP more responsibility, if the organization already has problems managing the Court-Livingston and Fulton Mall BIDs? It is my hope that MetroTech Board members are fully aware of the NYC Comptroller’s audit findings before their meeting,” said Council Member [Letitia] James.
The Brooklyn Paper, Audit rips Downtown Brooklyn Partnership over bookkeeping, salaries
The organization in charge of charting Downtown’s future is having serious difficulty steering its own ship, according to a city audit released on Monday.
...The analysis, which examined data from July 1, 2008 to June, 2009, concluded that the Partnership:
• Lacks adequate controls to substantiate $1.2 million in payments to salaried employees.
• Fails to follow proper procedures regarding documenting $600,000 in private contributions.
• Doesn’t follow the procurement and reporting requirements of the $6-million consulting contract it holds with the Department of Small Business Services.
Posted by eric at May 10, 2011 9:57 PM