Our man in the New York City Council/ candidate for NYC comPtroller, David Yassky is going new media crazy with his latest website – itsyourmoneynyc.com – designed to “[allow] taxpayers to track City spending for Fiscal Year 2009 and provide feedback on the effectiveness of City programs.” And stuff. The full press release after the jump.
YASSKY CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES WEBSITE THAT ALLOWS CITIZENS TO TRACK CITY SPENDING AND PROVIDE FEEDBACK ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CITY PROGRAMS
ItsYourMoneyNYC.com is First Searchable Database of City Budget and Council Earmarks, Reaffirming Yassky’s Commitment to Accountability, Innovation, and Results as City Comptroller; Yassky Releases First Position Paper on Budget Reform
New York, NY — The campaign of Council Member David Yassky, Democratic candidate for New York City Comptroller, today launched ItsYourMoneyNYC.com — the first searchable database of the New York City budget and City Council earmarks that allows taxpayers to track City spending for Fiscal Year 2009 and provide feedback on the effectiveness of City programs. Even before assuming the Comptroller’s Office, Yassky continues to prove his commitment to using innovation and technology to deliver results and an accountable City government for New York City taxpayers.
“I have proposed that City government put the entire City budget online in an easy-to-use, searchable, and fully transparent form,” said Council Member Yassky. “But I’m not going to wait for that to happen. City taxpayers deserve to know where their hard-earned money is being spent, and the results City government is producing with those dollars. This easy-to-use site will allow average New Yorkers to select many of the City’s agencies and explore their budgets broken down into easy, understandable units.”
ItsYourMoneyNYC.com allows visitors to search Council earmarks by keyword, borough, funding recipient, agency, dollar amount, and Council Member. It also allows visitors to track City agency spending by program, and provides descriptions of the services the funding provides. In addition, taxpayers can provide feedback on each individual program and member item — allowing the public and elected officials to judge the effectiveness of the programs being funded by the FY09 City budget.
In addition to the launch of the groundbreaking website, Yassky also issued the campaign’s first position paper — the Yassky Plan for City Budget Reform.
“With the launch of ItsYourMoneyNYC.com and the release of my plan for budget reform, we have begun to lay the groundwork for the type of transparency and accountability that I will work tirelessly toward as New York City Comptroller,” Yassky said. “In difficult budget times, working families need to know that City government is making the same difficult choices they are making in their own lives. These efforts go a long way toward that goal.”
The Yassky plan for budget reform includes allowing City Council committees to oversee their specified areas of the budget by having the Independent Budget Office break up lump sum allocations to City agencies into Units of Appropriation. This hearing and voting process would make the City budget process similar to that of the federal budget. The plan would also reschedule the budget calendar to earlier in the spring, allowing for greater Council oversight and review. As Comptroller, Yassky will pursue the plan laid out in the position paper by fully taking advantage of the Comptroller’s vast powers to both certify and continuously audit the City budget.
David Yassky is the only Brooklynite in the race for New York City Comptroller. As Chief Counsel to Chuck Schumer, he helped pass the most significant anti-crime statutes of the 1990s, including the Brady Law, Violence Against Women Act, hate crimes legislation, and the law that put 100,000 cops on streets across America. On the City Council, he has helped root out wasteful spending by exposing tens of millions of dollars of abuse at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and by passing the False Claims Act to reward whistleblowers who report fraud in City government. He has also been a powerful force for job creation, affordable housing, green jobs, and economic growth.
Click here (.pdf) to read David Yassky’s position paper on budget reform. For more information on the FY09 City budget, please go to www.ItsYourMoneyNYC.com.
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