TAB IS $1.6B TO GO BACK
THE EXPIRATION of mayoral control of city schools could cost the city up to $1.6 billion over 10 years — and the city would go after the state for the bill, according to a memo from de Blasio administration officials. Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris estimates that going back to the old system of local school boards would cost between $125 million and $160 million a year. Costs would soar because under the old system, there were more than 6,000 employees doing administrative jobs across 38 community and high school districts in 2002, not counting central staff. The city slashed 1,000 jobs after the advent of mayoral control, and today there are 4,934 staffers in regional and central offices combined, according to the memo from Shorris to Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER Melissa Mark-Viverito’s touted bail fund has helped free just two low-level detainees and is months away from being fully operational.
The Liberty Fund continues to struggle to get off the ground despite being announced as the centerpiece of the speaker’s first State of the City address in February 2015. In a no-bid contract, City Council selected the Doe Fund to create and run the bail kitty and set aside a little over $1 million for operating costs.
The bail industry is highly regulated — in large part to keep close tabs on possible predatory bail-bond agencies — and requires new operators to jump through a myriad of regulatory hoops.
“We didn’t know how long take,” said Alexander Horwitz, Doe Fund chief of staff. “What we were up against was the dubious reputation of the for-profit bail sector.”
First, the Doe Fund needed to get tax-exempt status as a legitimate nonprofit, a process that in some instances takes up to two years.
Then, the fund had to get licensed by the state’s Department of Financial Services.
The fund is now in the process of getting staff licensed as certified bail bondsmen. That takes up to three months. Currently, only two people on staff have the license needed, far from the planned 10 in total.
“We are still hiring bail agents,” Horwitz said.
By contrast, the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund has six and the Bronx Freedom Fund has multiple on staff as well. Those funds have bailed out more than 2,000 low-level offenders over the past two years.
“And 95% of all our clients have made all their court dates, which challenges the notion that bail is necessary for people to return to court,” said Peter Goldberg, executive director of the Brooklyn fund.
When Mark-Viverito (photo above) announced the fund, she said it would also save the city millions in detention costs. That hasn’t happened.
Additionally, Mark-Viverito has championed the closure of Rikers Island. But the plan to move detainees to smaller borough jails would only be possible if the inmate population drops to around 5,000.
Critics say her ballyhooed fund has done little to make a dent in that population.
As for the fortunate first two bailed out by the fund, officials say that their names will not be disclosed due to privacy restrictions.
They both had their bail set at $500, records show. it would