QUESTION
How are funds allocated and tracked for business improvement districts in NYC?
0:39:13
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109 sec
The Department of Small Business Services keeps track of funds allocated to business improvement districts through scope of work documentation, invoices, and audits.
- Funds for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are utilized for services like sanitation and district marketing.
- BIDs provide scope of work documentation and matching invoices to the Department of Small Business Services.
- The Department conducts audits of BIDs, including those not directly related to its grants, for financial accountability.
- Oversight of BID spending is an essential function of the Department for ensuring responsible use of allocated funds.
Vickie Paladino
0:39:13
I see fiscal year was a 187 a 1,000,000.
0:39:17
Fiscal year 23, 1,400,000 was given in grants.
0:39:22
3,000,000 were given to smaller bids.
0:39:24
Is this all inclusive in the 187?
0:39:27
And then an additional 2,400,000 was given to 14 organizations in 5th in fiscal year 23, and another 915 1000 was given to 11 organizations in fiscal year 24.
0:39:43
How do we keep our records?
0:39:45
How do we know how this money is being spent.
0:39:49
When we give bids money, and this is an awful lot of money.
0:39:56
I'm just real curious, how do we keep track of these numbers?
0:40:00
What kind of reports being a bid, having a board, and operating this as a business, how do we keep track of these numbers that I just I just went by, you know, I just I just laid out for you.
Calvin T. Brown
0:40:14
Yeah.
0:40:14
So I I I believe the 187 is a mount that fits and best into their neighborhoods in terms of the supplemental cleaning and some of the services that they do, the 2 top the 2 top being sanitation and district marketing.
0:40:28
But that's a very good question.
0:40:30
But we do keep track of how the the bids are spending, the the small bid support grant.
0:40:37
Some of the services that they're doing, they provide us with a scope of work, that they would be doing, and then they provide us invoices that match that scope of work.
Jessica Boule
0:40:46
Yeah.
Calvin T. Brown
0:40:46
Like And and and we also have audits or it's that accounts for how bids are spending.
0:40:53
And that's even outside of our grants.
0:40:55
That's one of the things that we as an oversight agency look at with business.
