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Council Member In Funding Flap 

Bronx City Council member Maria Del Carmen Arroyo has a unique way to get taxpayer support for her family.

Last year she sponsored $82,500 in Council “discretionary funds” into a nonprofit that employed both her sister and nephew, the Daily News has learned.

Arroyo’s sister, Iris, was “fiscal officer” for the South Bronx Community Corp., where a former employee accused her of incompetence that led to thousands of dollars of federal liens filed against the group.

Iris Arroyo’s son, Richard Izquierdo, was also listed as an executive at the agency; he claims he’s not paid.

The Arroyos’ arrangement comes as the feds charged two staffers of City Council member Kendall Stewart on Wednesday with embezzling discretionary funds through their nonprofit.

No one has been charged with a crime in the funding of the nonprofit that employed Arroyo’s relatives, and Stewart himself has not been charged with a crime.

Each City Council member is given a set amount to spend annually on “discretionary” items that are usually pet nonprofit causes within their districts.

Stewart’s aides were charged with siphoning off $145,000 in such funds through a nonprofit he funded.

Council member Arroyo is the former director of South Bronx Community Corp., which purports to “provide various services to the elderly, disabled and low income families” in the Bronx. Her mother, Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, was director of the nonprofit years before.

In her Council biography, the younger Arroyo claims to have been a “volunteer” at South Bronx, though records show her collecting $33,000 to $45,000 a year in 2001 and 2002.

She left the nonprofit after being elected to the Council in February 2005. Early last year, she was co-sponsor of a $75,000 “member item” and sole sponsor of a $7,500 member item for South Bronx Community Corp., records show.

Arroyo confirmed Wednesday she’d sponsored the money for the group, but insisted it was allocated only after her sister, Iris, and Iris’ son, Richard, had left.

“I know that when the Council discretionary funds were allocated, I know that they were no longer there,” she said.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t say when her sister left. As of February 2007, Iris Arroyo was signing tax documents as the group’s “fiscal officer,” records show.

Also the group received $50,000 in discretionary funds in 2006, although at the time sponsors were not publicly listed. Read more..

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Bronx budget benefits housing most

For the fifth year in a row, the largest chunk of Borough President Adolfo Carri?n’s $31 million capital budget will go toward new housing.

Carri?n’s newly released 2008 budget allocates $8 million to help finance 22 new building projects, many of them for low- or moderate-income families or first-time homeowners.

“The majority of the constituent calls into my office are regarding housing and/or the lack of affordable housing,” Carri?n said.

“If we want to sustain our economic growth, we have to address the ongoing housing crisis that is facing the city.”

Carri?n’s office has wide authority to allocate capital funds - its share of the city capital budget - to fill in gaps that otherwise could sink some projects.

This year’s capital budget for the borough is $13,000 less than last year’s, but still $7 million more than any year before that.

Besides housing advocates, supporters of green in the Bronx can applaud Carri?n’s $4 million allotment for parks projects.

Projects scheduled for next year include $500,000 toward a comfort station in Rodman’s Neck, after the Police Department closes its shooting range there.

Also on tap is $500,000 for renovation of the Fox St. playground. The parks portion of the capital budget had been slashed to about $1 million last year.

Some $5 million worth of school improvements also have been worked in, including money for new science labs, library upgrades, computer equipment and new playgrounds.

A new, environmentally green roof at Stevenson High School will receive $350,000 in funding help.

Other perks include $400,000 toward technology upgrades at the borough’s libraries, $600,000 for construction at the Kingsbridge Branch Library, $1 million allocated toward construction of a Morris Heights health center and a new van that will tour the Bronx educating kids about fire safety.

“This budget represents improvements to all areas of the Bronx,” Carri?n said. “When we invest wisely in our communities, we create opportunities for people to reap the benefits of a strong economy and give future generations more advantages to succeed.”

Capital funds from the city budget are calculated using a formula based on each borough’s percentage of the city’s population and land area.

Queens and Brooklyn receive 32% and 27%, respectively, and the Bronx gets about half of that - 15.2% - but more than narrow Manhattan, at 13.4%, and less populous Staten Island, with 12.4%.

Source: NY Daily News

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