Qns. Library Gives Financial Info, But Stringer Wants Full Disclosure
Infuriating several elected officials, Queens Borough Public Library’s board of trustees voted last Thursday, May 8, to rebuff calls for full financial disclosure in an ongoing city audit.
The board agreed to provide City Comptroller Scott Stringer with information based on an agreement reached with then-Comptroller Alan Hevesi in 1997. Stringer is seeking court intervention invalidating that agreement and mandating that Queens Library turn over all of its financial documents.
“Queens Library believes in accountability and transparency,” according to a statement issued by the library. “The library has released all requested financial documentation in accordance with the court ordered agreement of 1997. The audit rules have been the standard for several previous administrations. It appropriately includes audit authority over every dime provided by the City, fines and fees collected and book sale funds.”
The settlement between Hevesi and Queens Library came after a similar imbroglio over transparency which ended up in a courtroom. In the agreement, Hevesi agreed not to audit “revenues to nor expenditures from … any financial records-past, present or future-regarding any library funds other than fines and fees, city funds and all interest earnings on fines, fees and city funds.”
Stringer and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz slammed the board’s decision in statements sent to the Times Newsweekly last Friday, May 9.
“What happened last night at the Queens Borough Public Library was a disgrace,” Stringer said. “It is a shame that the members of the Queens Library board who voted against their own colleagues’ resolution have continued to embrace library management’s antiby transparency policies.”
“Once again, the Queens Borough Public Library board has raised questions about the execution of their fiduciary responsibility,” Katz added. “This institution continues to move further and further away from accountability at the exact moment it should be embracing transparency. … This board is hiding the Queens Library from necessary sunlight and I am committed to making sure that a bright light is shone on this issue.”
According to Queens Library, the settlement’s stipulations were “binding on all future” city comptrollers. In a statement, the nonprofit entity maintained 100 percent of all revenue and expenditures from the city “have been, and continue to be made available” for Stringer’s audit.
Queens Library also provided Stringer’s office with information on its workers’ compensation fund, which a spokesperson noted went beyond the parameters of the Hevesi agreement.
Even so, the board turned down last Thursday a resolution from one of its members acquiescing to Stringer’s full disclosure demand.
Questions regarding Queens Library’s finances have been swirling since January, when it was reported that Thomas W. Galante-the library’s president and CEO- collected a nearly $400,000 annual salary and authorized a six-figure renovation of his Jamaica office.
The expenses came as the library reduced staff and services in recent years over what it claimed to be financial difficulties related to government funding cutbacks. The library maintains Galante’s annual compensation is similar to that received by other nonprofit executives.
Further public anger was leveled at Galante after it was reported he received an additional six-figure salary for consulting services to the Elmont Union School District in Nassau County, a part-time job he retained while operating Queens Library.
Stringer along with the FBI, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta E. Lynch and the city Department of Investigation each launched their own investigations into Queens Library’s operations. The city’s Department of Design and Construction last month froze more than $20 million in funds for Queens Library capital projects, including planned renovations for the Richmond Hill branch.
Reportedly, the funds would be made available to the library once city officials prove all proposed expenses are legitimate.
Last month, the Queens Library board rebuffed requests made by Katz to force Galante into a leave of absence until the investigations conclude. The borough president indicated in letters to Galante and Board Chair Gabriel Taussig that Galante’s continued leadership put the entire nonprofit entity in financial jeopardy.
In a message to the board and staff last Friday, Galante claimed the library “has been the subject of negative media reports about its capital projects” and has “printed a great deal of incorrect and/or incomplete information.”
“It is important that the full, correct facts be known,” Galante said. “Our new and upgraded buildings add a lot of value to the community at a low cost. It is something the library is and should be proud of.”
Galante also sent a letter to city Independent Budget Office (IBO) Executive Director Ronnie Lowenstein requesting “an independent review and analysis” of Queens Library’s capital program. One source familiar with the situation dismissed it as a “ridiculous” gesture.
A spokesperson for Stringer’s office told the Times Newsweekly on Monday, May 12, the city’s Law Department is representing the comptroller in Queens Civil Court in an effort to invalidate the 1997 Hevesi settlement. The audit is ongoing.
