NEW YORK—Queens Council Member Eric Gioia is asking the City to create a Web site to let New Yorkers track government spending and subsidies. The Web site is to hold government accountable for its spending, which Gioia says sometimes ends up spent for unstated purposes.
New York City taxpayers have given over $100 million to bailed out companies. To track those dollars, New Yorkers would have to inquire with the City Council, Economic Development Corporation, Finance Department, and others. Gioia is proposing that a consolidated Web site be launched to serve as a searchable database.
Of the 15 New York City-based companies currently receiving federal bailout money,
AIG, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have received a combined total of at least
$120,000,000 in New York City subsidies.
“In tough times every penny counts,” said Gioia. “We need to make sure that if you receive New York City’s hard earned tax dollars you aren’t misusing them. An easily searchable database of city agencies, companies and non-profits which receive city assistance will help create transparency, increase efficiency and save the City money. It shouldn’t take an advanced research degree to figure out how the City spends your money. ”
For nearly two decades, New York City taxpayers have been subsidizing many of the same firms that were just bailed out, according to statistics compiled by Good Jobs New York, an organization that holds government accountable to taxpayers.
Gioia says a Web site would be a low-cost way to keep tabs on subsidies data, how dollars are allocated, and what’s being done with the funds. Several other States have created similar Web sites.
