In his second installment about City Council stipends, fiscal observer John Marshall Lee recommends a public accounting posted on the legislative body’s website of how and where the money was spent.
When you tap the Stipend purse as a City Council member to cover “your expenses” as a practicing “elected public servant” and request an increase from $9,000 annually in the 2023 budget year to $15,000 for the 2025 Bridgeport year under discussion, are you also ready to post a schedule on the City Council website of the rules of spending these taxpayer funds?
At the moment, the Finance Office keeps records but does no special oversight or commentary, and the public has no sense of the purpose and standards followed by the 20 Council members absent a Freedom of Information request. Post the rules. Reveal the actual numbers of those who use the accounts. Share individual activity of these “public servants.”
This 60% increase in the Legislative budget item is significant. It is linked to inflation in the travel, hotel, and conference charges facing Council members who attend National League of Cities or other meetings to stay current on what is happening in other similar communities around the country. Hopefully, exciting ideas, responsive to City needs, and Council members’ research and reflection, flow back to the City for action. But how do constituents know, when public conversations between the Council and the people are “few and far between” in Bridgeport?
I recommend that each and every visit to a Conference using Stipend funds from City taxpayers, within 60 days of return, post a Council person’s brief narrative published on the Internet at the Council Web location about the “new” idea revealed, why it seems suitable for our City in his/her opinion, and how a supportive public can respond. Getting the word out about networking and learning at these meetings builds support for such investment where currently there is precious little time or effort spent on indicating the value of conferencing.
What about other expenses that are paid for by the Stipend budget? Great question. Provide residents with a monthly updated statement at the City Council site on Stipend expenses. What is the purpose? What are the rules? And create OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE, and HONEST reports of all expenses as they are credited to card accounts and paid with taxpayer funds. Let fellow residents become the “sunlight” that shines on the activities reported and funds expended and keeps waste or corruption from gaining a foothold. Let the light remain “ON” 24/7!!
As an executive committee member of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP, I have participated monthly attending a regular meeting and keeping notes of residents in a “high-rise neighborhood” of older or disabled renters.
Residents have been seeking a way since 2021 to organize themselves into a Tenant Association with the encouragement of two Council members who have supplied pizza and water for resident meetings and also their presence for one hour to establish self-governance of, by, and for, the residents who can exercise genuine democratic voice about common issues and concerns in an organized matter subject to actual by-laws and agreed upon processes. Perhaps this development of resident rights and responsibilities will change the attitudes held about “politics” and “voting” come election time in the City? Time will tell.
