'All Member Items'

Here’s the City Hall memo ordering a new "Temporary Review Process" on all city contracts worth more than $100,000. It's part of Bloomberg's reaction to the stalemate in Albany which held up passage of a tax hike the mayor sought in order to balance the city's budget.

The new review process is meant to prevent the city from entering into contracts it may not be able to afford, the memo says. But the review will extend not only to contracts, but to member-item money given out by the City Council and borough presidents.

“This applies to City Council/Borough President discretionary awards as well,” the memo, dated today, says.

I asked a City Hall spokesman whether, since only contracts worth more than a certain amount would trigger reviews, there was a corresponding minimum on member items that would be subject to scrutiny. The response: "No. all member items."

UPDATE: A City Hall spokesman clarifies a point for me: all contracts, regardless of size, are subject to review, including member items. In the past, contracts (and members items) worth less than $100,000 were subject to review process that didn't involve the mayor's office.