CITYWIDE

CITY SPENDING INCREASES BY $3B IN FISCAL 2004

City spending increased by almost $3 billion in fiscal 2004, a jump of 6.7%, but the city banked a $5 million surplus at the end of the fiscal year, according to the city comptroller’s Annual Financial Report released yesterday.

The 300-page report offers a comprehensive look at the city’s spending. It shows the city issued $8.55 billion in long-term bonds to finance its capital plan, and it outlines the interest rate exchange agreements the city entered into, to lower the cost of its long-term borrowing. By law the city must balance its budget every year. Mayor Bloomberg was able to do that as he promised, the report said.

“The city overcame its budget problems for FY2004 because of appropriate actions take by the Mayor and the City Council to address the deficit that had been projected for the year,” the comptroller, William Thompson Jr., said in a written statement. “To adequately prepare for projected future year gaps, the city must adopt a similar sense of urgency in devising solutions.”

Mr. Thompson has said he is considering seeking the Democratic mayoral nomination next year. The council speaker, Gifford Miller, is expected to do the same. And the mayor has vowed to seek re-election.

Mr. Bloomberg has managed to close multibillion-dollar budget gaps the past two years by raising taxes, cutting spending, and using surpluses amassed during the economic boom to make the budget balance. He used a $1.4 billion FY 2003 surplus, for example, to close last year’s budget gap, and he plans to use surpluses banked this year to help fill a $6 billion hole that he has to tackle next year.

Mr. Thompson’s report offered some end-of-the-year snapshots of the city’s financing. The city’s pension funds, for example, had annualized returns of 9.9% in the past 10 years, the report said. The city issued about $6.46 billion in general-obligation bonds, it said. Half the money went toward refunding some outstanding bonds and about half went to finance capital projects. The comptroller report estimated the city’s debt-service savings in fiscal 2004 as a result of the refunding at $32.4 million.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FORMER CORRECTIONS COMMISSIONER TO PAY $500 FINE

The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board settled with a former commissioner of the Department of Correction after he had department employees repair his private, above-ground swimming pool, the board said in a written statement yesterday.

The former corrections official, William Fraser, paid a $500 fine for having subordinates replace a leaking liner on his pool and reinstalling a filter, the board said. Although Mr. Fraser didn’t have the power to affect the employees’ jobs, they were working in the Staten Island courts while he was Assistant Chief of Division II on Rikers Island and their work for Mr. Fraser goes against city charter and board rules that prohibit public officials from misusing or even attempting to misuse their official positions or from using city personnel for non-city purposes. Mr. Fraser had paid the men $100 for their work.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ATTORNEYS DELIVER CLOSING ARGUMENTS IN SCHOOLS CASE

Lawyers for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the state, and the city had one last chance yesterday to persuade the court-appointed special masters in the school funding case that their respective teams have the right solution.

In the closing arguments yesterday morning, the lawyers summarized their view of how New York should provide a “sound basic education” to its children.

In addition to differing on the amount of extra money the city needs to educate children and where that money should come from, the parties clashed on what kind of report the special referees should submit to the court by November 30.

The city said the masters should direct the Legislature to take certain actions. The Campaign for Fiscal Equity said the masters should direct the Legislature to act within 90 days. The state said if the masters lay out exactly what is required to fulfill the court mandate, it would be enough impetus for the Legislature to act.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

PROBE FINDS AIR-CONDITIONING PROGRAM ABUSED

Federal emergency officials didn’t do enough to prevent waste and abuse of a program that provided free air conditioners to thousands of New Yorkers after September 11, 2001, according to a report released yesterday.

The investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General was requested by Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jose Serrano, of New York, after the Associated Press reported in 2003 that there were widespread problems with the $100 million fund to help residents breathe clean air after the attack on downtown Manhattan. The collapse of the World Trade Center produced a giant cloud of asbestos-contaminated dust, forcing the replacement of contaminated air conditioners for thousands of city residents.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, who ran the program with state authorities, claimed last year that about 90% of applications for air conditioners or air purifying units came from people who were not suffering ill effects from the collapse. But the inspector general found that those claims were “probably overstated” and that the real number was closer to 62%.

– Associated Press

STATEN ISLAND

MAYOR ANNOUNCES REDEVELOPMENT OF FORMER NAVAL BASE

Mayor Bloomberg announced plans yesterday for the redevelopment of the former naval base at Homeport on Staten Island. The idea is to transform the area into a residential, commercial, and retail district.

Plans include the creation of a community sports complex, banquet hall, restaurant, and farmers’ market. In addition, the mayor announced that the Department of Parks & Recreation is initiating a comprehensive plan to restore Stapleton’s historic Tappen Park.

The city has set aside $66 million for infrastructure improvements over five years for the 36-acre Homeport site and has issued two requests for proposals for the infrastructure work. The construction is expected to begin in 2006, and the project will likely take two or three years to complete.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ

Specialist Segun Frederick Akintade, a Nigerian native who lived in Brooklyn, was killed October 28 at Abd Allah, Iraq, when his unit came under attack by enemy forces wielding small arms weapons and an improvised explosive device. “He went into the army one year ago because he wanted to be a citizen of this country,” said Jose Reyes, 57, superintendent of a building on Lenox Road where Akintade kept an apartment. Atkintade, of the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, had recently visited the neighborhood after completing his first tour of Iraq. “He said, ‘Thank God I’m still alive. I’m going back again,’ ” said Tokunbo Atayero, 34, who lived across the hall from Atkintade. Atkintade’s neighbors described him as a decent, easygoing man who enjoyed listening to music from his native country.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

QUEENS

DEATH OF PATIENT IN COMA RULED HOMICIDE

The medical examiner ruled yesterday that the death of a comatose patient at a Queens hospital was a homicide. The victim, Jerome Grant, 61, died in August after someone at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital South Shore shut off his ventilator without authorization, police said.

A nurse found Grant and called police. Hospital spokeswoman Melissa Krantz said yesterday: “We have been informed of the results of the medical examiner’s report, and we will cooperate fully with all authorities.”

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

SERIAL RAPIST OF TEEN GIRLS PLEADS GUILTY

A serial rapist pleaded guilty at Queens Supreme Court to violating pre-teen schoolgirls at knifepoint and faces a maximum sentence that would keep him behind bars for more than two centuries.

Luis Acosta, 34, a supermarket worker from Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to raping schoolgirls aged 9, 11, and 12, as well as a 25-year-old woman, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Three of the four rapes occurred at knifepoint, and all of them occurred at Queens between 1999 and 2001.

Convicted of rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, robbery, burglary, and endangering the welfare of a child, Acosta faces 232 years in prison, according to the DA.

“The defendant is a dangerous sexual predator who should be imprisoned for the rest of his life to punish him for his violent crimes and to protect potential victims from harm,” said Mr. Brown.

On August 18, Acosta was convicted of raping nine women at the Bronx over a 10-year period. Most of the attacks occurred at knifepoint, and the victims ranged in age from 13 to 58. Acosta also faces sex-crime charges at Manhattan.

Acosta was recaptured by police in Brooklyn Heights on November 6, 2002, ending a manhunt that began May 6, when he escaped from custody. Acosta had slipped out of an interrogation room after he was left unattended.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun