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The Chief Financial Officer of the City of New York strode into a conference room October 25 to meet with a coterie of student reporters from Hunter, City College, Columbia and NYU.
WORD senior writers-producers Jonathan Mena, far left, and Daniel Allen, center, at October 25, 2007, meeting with New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. (to the right of Allen) and student journalists from NYU, Columbia and City College. The meeting was held in his office. Photo credit: Maria S. Maritzer.
Also known as the City Comptroller, William C. Thompson, Jr. whose office advises the Mayor, the City Council, and the public of the City’s financial condition and manages $105 billion in pension funds, according to his web site, as well as performs budgetary analysis, audits city agencies, registers proposed contracts, oversees budget authorization, determines credit needs and terms and conditions, prepares warrants for payment and issues and sells City obligations.
After he began the meeting by succinctly describing his role in City government, he proceeded to take questions. “How have you used your office to benefit the immigrant communities of New York?” this writer asked for the opening question.
“I believe immigration is good,” said Thompson, who has been comptroller since 2002. “It has brought energy and new jobs to New York City.” From translating important press releases for non-English speakers to coordinating with community groups to combat wage exploitation, Thompson said he has kept the interests of immigrants a top priority.
After a comptroller’s report found that nearly 75 percent of New York hospitals surveyed failed to provide patients with Spanish-language services, Thompson said the city council voted to mandate translators in hospitals. “It was a huge victory,” he said.
An official elected independently from the Mayor, Thompson has the authority to audit every last dime of the city’s $60 billion budget. Thompson said that his office pays out $500 million in settlements for lawsuits against the city each year. “If something happens in the hospital, if something goes wrong in an operation, we get sued. Police cases, false arrests, you name it, we get sued,” he said.
But Thompson says his job was more than just crunching numbers. “It never was about just the statutory authority of the office. I’ve tried to approach it as: What are you doing to work and fight for the people of New York City?” Said Thompson. “So you haven’t just worked within the box of the office, you’ve stretched the boundaries. I’m very proud of that work.”
In response to the rash of citywide home foreclosures, a result of sub-prime and predatory lending, the comptroller established a foreclosure prevention hotline. “A year ago, two years ago, there were probably 6,000 to 7,000 foreclosures in New York City. The number this year is going to be somewhere between 14,000 and 15,000,” said Thompson, noting that the foreclosures are concentrated in predominantly African-American and Latino communities. He mentioned central Brooklyn, southeast Queens, the Bronx, and parts of Staten Island as the most affected areas.
Thompson’s five consecutive terms as president of the city’s Board of Education help to influence his agenda. In September 2007, the comptroller released a report stating that violent incidents in schools go largely underreported. Of the schools surveyed, between 5 percent to 75 percent of incidents go unreported, said Thompson.
In 2003, mayor Bloomberg awarded a contract to Snapple, making it the official iced tea and water of New York in exchange for $126 million in revenue for the city. Snapple was to install vending machines in over 6,000 public facilities, including 1,200 public schools.
Speaking rhetorically, Thompson said, “Was the contract done in a fair fashion and in an open fashion?” He went to court to block the deal. “I think in the end the answer was, no it was not,” he said. The deal held, but according to a March 2006, New York Sun article, the income for the city dropped to only $33 million after vending sales remained unexpectedly low.
Thompson’s track record shows that he has butted heads with Mayor Bloomberg on other issues. Known for his opposition to MTA fare hikes, Thompson said he was the first comptroller ever to authorize an audit of the MTA. Thompson said he found the MTA to have a surplus budget rather than the deficit that had been previously reported. The comptroller audit identified $728 million in revenue sources that the state and city legislature could allocate to prevent the hikes.
When asked by WORD senior editor and senior producer Jonathan Mena if his motivation for convening with young reporters was linked to a mayoral bid, Thompson replied, jokingly, “Who told you I was running for Mayor?” Articles in several news/magazine publications, however, described him as a strong contender for the 2008 mayoral contest.
“As you start moving along in any campaign, you’re going to start to reach all segments,” he said to the students. “I think that the young people of the city of New York are important if for no other reason than the energy that they bring and the new ideas.”
Mild-mannered but fiery, Thompson said that his office was limited only by imagination: “What can we get involved in? Almost anything.” He shook hands with each student, thanked them for coming, and moved on to his next task.
Check news section for related article: “Save Our Homes” Started to Thwart Subprime Crisis Hurting New York City Home Owners
Editor’s Note: Daniel Allen is a senior producer, senior editor for the WORD.