Bloomberg proposed a 50-cent increase in the city's tax on cigarettes. The Mayor argued that raising the price of cigarettes, by increasing taxes, has proven to be a very effective method of
reducing smoking.
This New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) fiscal brief addresses the disproportionate spending on students and general education in schools. The report includes data and analyses addressing the school system, general spending patterns in schools, teacher salaries, and other demographic related information.
An audit report was filed on September 19, 2007 on the Department of Education's (DOE) reporting of violent, disruptive, and other incidents at New York City Public High Schools. The audit determined whether DOE has adequate controls in place to ensure that incidents at New York City Public High Schools are consistently entered in the On-line Occurrence Reporting System (OORS) so that DOE can report them to the New York State Education Department (SED) in accordance with SED requirements. It was determined that DOE did not have effective controls in to ensure that incidents at its high schools were consistently entered in OORS, thus a significant portion of incidents were not entered. There were also issues regarding consistency of reporting across schools and the discretion used in handling these incidents. Recommendations were made to rectify these issues.
An audit report was filed on September 21, 2007 on the Other Than Personal Service Expenditures (OTPS) of the New York City Council for the period July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005. The audit determined whether the New York City Council complied with certain purchasing procedures for OTPS expenditures set forth in the New York City Comptroller's Internal Control and Accountability Directives #3, 6, and 24, Procurement Policy Board (PPB) rules, and the Procurement Rules of the Council. It was determined that the Council did not comply with any of the aforementioned rules. The Council circumvented many protocols and procedures and mishandled money in many instances. Recommendations were made to rectify these issues.
An audit report was filed on September 17, 2007 on the development and implementation of the Medical Assisstance Tracking Information System (MATIS) by the Human Resources Administration (HRA). It could not be ascertained whether MATIS met the overall goals as stated in the original system justification, although the system was operational and the system design allowed for future upgrades. Sample testing of MATIS revealed issues with the data stored as well as certain protocols to protects its users. HRA's using and implementation of MATIS left many areas in need of improvement. Recommendations were made to rectify these issues.