Thompson Wants City Agencies Audited for Water Debt
Comptroller Bill Thompson is asking Michael Bloomberg to conduct a citywide audit of all agencies to make sure they have paid their water and sewer bills.
Thompson made the request in a letter today, one day after he announced he had discovered the city Economic Development Corporation failed to collect water and sewer payments from their subtenants for 22 years, at a cost of about $4.5 million.
Meanwhile, water and sewer rates are about to go up 14.5 percent.
“This situation is simply outrageous," Thompson writes in the letter, which goes on:
“In order to ensure that these poor practices are not even more widespread, I urge your staff to thoroughly examine all City agencies for any failures to pay their water or sewer bills or collect the costs from sub-tenants. New Yorkers should not be subsidizing the City’s unpaid bills nor should they be expected to shoulder the consequences of the City’s lax oversight.”
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Exactly who does he think will pay City agency water bills, the tooth fairy? The NYPD or the FDNY (there's a real culprit in water usage)should pay another city agency? Great. Let's have a big shell game, moving the money around from one agency to another. Like that will save the taxpayers anything...And why did it take the Comptroller almost 7 years to figure this out?
Why would the NYC Comptroller ask the Mayor to audit the agencies that the Comptroller is charged with auditing in the NYC Charter? What a bizarre abdication of responsibility.
He should really concentrate on getting the discretionary money that he has been holding up out of his office and into the community organizations that have had to go into debt to pay their bills.