Mission Statement

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The mission of the office is to ensure the current and future fiscal health of the City of New York. The powers of the Office of Comptroller -- the independently elected counterbalance to the City’s executive and legislature -- must be used in a robust manner for the future of the City, its residents and retirees. The tools of audit and oversight, combined with the responsibilities vested in the Office and its unique position as a shareholder, allows the Comptroller the potential to effectuate substantial change on behalf of the people.

I intend for the Office of the Comptroller to be a vehicle for such change while offering unparalleled financial expertise, maintaining utmost integrity and a heightened sense of professionalism.

Priorities:

  • Vigorously utilize the power of audit (both financial and operational) to ensure accountability and transparency in City agencies
  • Manage the investments and protect the assets of the City’s pension funds by limiting risk, lowering asset management expenses and through capital preservation
  • Exercise shareholder activism to maximize the Office as an agent of change
  • Ensure federal stimulus funds are used for capital infrastructure projects that will generate sustainable opportunities for city residents and local businesses
  • Ensure equal opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses, specifically with regard to the procurement process for City contracts
  • Examine past and future city development deals that feature(d) specific promises of affordable housing and job creation, and institute timelines and clawback provisions to ensure full delivery of such promises
  • Implement financial reforms to eliminate waste and fraud in the City’s budget by:
    1. Curtailing unnecessary use of mid-year budget modifications
    2. Examining the billions of "discretionary funding"/no-bid contracts that are routinely issued by the City
  • Restore public confidence in the Office and in government by:
    1. Upholding the highest level of professionalism and standard of integrity
    2. Instituting measures to avoid undue influence (or perception thereof), such as specific contribution policies from anyone with business before the Comptroller’s Office.