Mayor Richard M. Daley’s assertions that he has run a transparent administration suffered a fresh blow following the release of a new one-year audit report showing that the city neglected to disclose nearly $769 million in payments made with taxpayer money.
The new report from Inspector General Joseph Ferguson states that “direct voucher” payments, in which the city makes payments for goods and services that it obtains outside the normal competitive bidding process, weren’t made public even after the city vowed to open up all contracts and payments made to companies for goods and services to public view through the Department of Procurement Services at www.cityofchicago.org.
In addition, according to the report, direct vouchers “were improperly utilized for approximately $14.2 million” of purchases during the one-year audit period. That city business should have been competitively bid out, Mr. Ferguson reported.
“Potential waste and mismanagement of city assets occurred,” the report states.
In one case, the report states, direct vouchers were used improperly to buy $192,808 worth of gift cards from stores such as Dominick’s, Jewel and Target. Another $5.5 million in purchases were made with direct vouchers when the goods and services should have been obtained through existing contracts that the city had with companies.
The inspector general also contends that the misuse of direct vouchers cost business to minority- and women-owned businesses.
The purchases made by direct vouchers have not been factored into the city’s official statistics tracking how much business it does with minority- and women-owned companies. If the city’s goals for including such businesses had been in place for that $14.2 million, then minority- and women-owned businesses should have been paid about $3 million of the overall amount. Instead, less than $1 million of that money was paid to companies owned by minorities or females.
Shortly following the report’s arrival in the mailboxes of aldermen, the Daley administration put out a news release touting “continued efforts to increase accountability and improve transparency in government.”
The release states that the city is limiting the types of payments that can be made by direct vouchers.
The administration also said it has begun posting “all bill payments for goods/services” made outside of the city’s purchasing department. The payment reports date back to Jan. 1, 2010.
The inspector general’s audit covered the period from Nov. 1, 2006 to Oct. 31, 2007.
How is the money from TIFs spent: is there a summary of project payments (relating a payment back to the development approved thru CDC and PLAN Commiss and City Council; and where do we account for the 10% taken for “city adminstration” from each of the Tifs; and where is the authority in the state TIF to take money from the schools and then glom onto 10% of whatever is IN THE FUND as non budget revenue to the City?