Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Keriann Pauls, Interim Executive Director of TakeRoot Justice
1:51:21
ยท
147 sec
Keriann Pauls, Interim Executive Director of TakeRoot Justice, testified about the urgent need to eliminate delays in the city's contracting and payments to nonprofits. She highlighted the financial strain on nonprofits due to payment delays and proposed several recommendations to address these issues.
- Recommended proper funding and staffing for MOCS to improve contracting processes
- Called for standardized 50% advance payments on all nonprofit contracts at the beginning of each fiscal year
- Urged the city to allow bridge loans even when contracts are registered and make them available at multiple stages
- Requested the council to pass legislation requiring the city to cover interest costs incurred by nonprofits on loans and lines of credit due to payment delays
Keriann Pauls
1:51:21
Hello, good afternoon.
1:51:22
My name is Carrie Ann Pauls and I'm the interim executive director at Take Root Justice.
1:51:27
Thank you to chair Juan, the committee and staff for this opportunity to testify about the ongoing and urgent need to eliminate delays in the city's contracting and payments made to nonprofits.
1:51:38
I'd like to thank my colleagues who have testified today as we all unfortunately share in the same experiences of delays.
1:51:47
Currently, and in this moment, in addition to trying to manage while we wait for payments, we are all in the moment where legal services and community organizing nonprofits are under direct attack by the federal administration and struggling with our funding and resources.
1:52:02
But at the local level, what our city and the contracting agencies can do is ensure that our funding, what we are awarded and awarded to serve our communities and your constituents, is paid timely.
1:52:16
So a few recommendations on how to make this happen, and thank you so much to Chair Juan and others from the council for championing a number of these.
1:52:24
So we'd like to amplify the call for proper funding and staffing for mocks to ensure the oversight and operations of the contracting processes run smoothly.
1:52:33
The city should standardize 50% advance payments on all contracts with nonprofits at the beginning of each fiscal year.
1:52:41
The greatest payment delays we experience are at the beginning of each contract term, and even when advances are issued, they are only around 25%, which is not enough.
1:52:51
Next, the city should allow for bridge loans even when contracts are registered and make them available at multiple stages during the contracting process so organizations can meet their cash flow shortfalls when the city is still behind on payments.
1:53:04
And I'd like to note that even though there are the returnable grant fund loans, those are only so good as when the agencies are actually responsive to those requests.
1:53:13
We've experienced extreme delays in any response for our RGF requests.
1:53:18
And we'd like to ask the council to pass the proposed legislation that requires the city to cover the interest costs incurred by nonprofits on loans and lines of credit.
1:53:28
So thank you again to chair Juan for being such an ally as we push for better contracting and timely payment on our, payments for our sector.
1:53:36
We show up every day to fight for the rights of New Yorkers and to sustain this work sustain this work, we need the city to pay on time.
1:53:44
Thank you so much, and we'd be happy to respond to any questions you all might have.