More Accountability Needed for City Expenditures

At , Mayor Alan Burchill was accused of not adequately “minding the store” by allowing a six-figure payment to be made to a local organization without adequate accounting for the use of the funds. The mayor tried to make light of the situation by saying, “Okay, you got me – I’m a supporter.”

Well, Mr. Mayor, the truth is that you work for us – the taxpayers of the . Whether or not you support the Chamber, it is your sworn duty to make certain that all city funds are fully and properly accounted for. 

I have no quarrel with the chamber. I am not commenting on the quality of the job they do. I do, however, have two serious problems with the process employed by the city to give the organization 70 percent of the local room taxes to promote tourism – this year, more than $100,000. 

The first problem lies with the method (or lack thereof) used to select the chamber as the city’s tourism bureau. The promotion of tourism is an important city function. Room taxes are imposed to pay for that function. The local chamber is a third-party vendor tasked with the implementation of that function on behalf of the city. The fact is, that no competitive process has ever been used to award this major city contract. This significant dollar amount is merely – and seemingly automatically – turned over to the chamber to do with as they choose. 

This process, like all city contracts of this size, should be open to competitive bidding. A request for competitive proposals should be issued which details the objectives for the expenditure and describes what specific outcomes are desired as a result. There may be many qualified individuals and firms who could perform the necessary tourism functions – some better and more efficiently than the current vendor. At the very least, the competitive process would necessitate a complete review of the city’s objectives for the function, and would likely generate many new and creative ideas. We would all benefit from that kind of process.

The second problem lies with accountability. In fact, at Wednesday night’s debate, that is all that was asked for. State statute requires that at least annually the tourism bureau must make an adequate accounting to the Hudson Common Council of the city funds expended. That accounting has not been given, nor has it been demanded by Mayor Burchill or the common council. Accountability for all expenditures – especially large ones – is at the crux of last night’s “not minding the store” accusation. If the mayor is not carefully examining a $100,000+ expenditure, what else might be slipping through the cracks?

Proper business practice requires that for every expenditure there be a measurable result. In this case, no measurable parameters have been specified, no competitive bids have been sought, no proper accounting has been made, and the process is so closed that no fresh, new ideas have been allowed to emerge which might improve the tourism function regardless of what person or organization is selected to implement it.

So, Mr. Mayor, it’s okay to be a chamber supporter – but first and foremost, do your job!