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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jeremy Laufer, District Manager of Brooklyn Community Board
5:18:55
ยท
3 min
Jeremy Laufer, the longest-serving district manager in Brooklyn, provides testimony on the challenges faced by community boards due to increased responsibilities and limited budget increases over the years. He highlights the technological advancements and new administrative duties that have been added without corresponding budget increases.
- Laufer describes the evolution from using mimeograph machines and typewriters to managing websites and hybrid meetings.
- He emphasizes the need for more flexible budgets to handle unexpected expenses like equipment repairs.
- The testimony underscores the importance of sustainable funding for community boards to effectively carry out their expanded roles.
Jeremy Laufer
5:18:55
Thank you and good afternoon.
5:18:57
First, let me associate myself with every comment that my, colleagues have made today.
5:19:03
Mister Giordano just proved to me I am not the longest serving district manager in the city.
5:19:09
Wasn't sure of that, but I am currently the longest serving in Brooklyn.
5:19:15
When I started, so I started in August, February, which, as you know, spans two millennia now.
5:19:25
When I started, we had no computers in my office.
5:19:28
We relied on a mimeograph machine.
5:19:30
We relied on typewriters and pink forms and carbon copies and cassette recorders.
5:19:36
We finally got rid of the cassette recorder in 2019.
5:19:40
In that time, we have barely had any budget increases beyond cost of living adjustments as has been, mentioned, but we've had a variety of new responsibilities heaped upon us.
5:19:53
I learned one day I'm now my agency's privacy officer with responsibilities to report several times a year on various aspects of how we share information, personal information with city agencies and others.
5:20:12
We've had additional responsibilities when it comes to spending our money, our budget at the FMS, system.
5:20:21
We all all my staff and I had to go through training to do things that the borough president's office used to do.
5:20:26
But now me and my staff, me, two other people are now responsible for.
5:20:32
Some of our boards only have two employees, but you need three people to sign off on your budget forms.
5:20:39
So I don't know how they managed to do that, how they managed to spend money.
5:20:44
Back in I just also want to bring up, since that time we've had to manage our own websites.
5:20:50
Some of our colleagues have designed their own websites, paid for it out of their budgets.
5:20:55
We've mentioned hybrid meetings.
5:20:58
And we're paying now for communications platforms that we did not have twenty five years ago.
5:21:05
All of this we've had to self fund out of a budget that doesn't increase.
5:21:14
The council in 2019 was generous and gave community boards $43,000 as a one shot for various needs.
5:21:25
What my board did was we invested that in technology.
5:21:30
We got monitors for our Board office.
5:21:32
We got a camera.
5:21:33
We got additional and better lighting.
5:21:36
We got a modern sound system.
5:21:38
What that onetime budget allocation did not do is help us pay for repairs.
5:21:44
So when my monitor went down, I had to wait a fiscal year in order to be able to, repair that monitor because it had to come out of my budget and I had not budgeted for it because my budget is not flexible.
Michael Ryan
5:21:58
Tom expired.
Lincoln Restler
5:21:59
Thank you.
Jeremy Laufer
5:22:00
Thank you.
5:22:00
And