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Committee reviews proposals to change Board of Estimates and Board of Finance membership
Summary
Members discussed proposals to shrink the Board of Estimates to three members (mayor, council president, comptroller) and to expand the Board of Finance from five to seven members by adding the council president and city solicitor; proponents said changes would rebalance decision-making authority.
Committee members reviewed structural amendments to two oversight bodies. Staff presented a proposal to reduce the Board of Estimates from five members to three — the mayor, the council president and the comptroller — and to limit designees to specified officer positions (for example, the mayor esignee would be the city administrator). Councilwoman Odette Ramos and others said the current five-member composition often advantages the mayor because two members are mayoral appointees, and that a smaller, more specifically defined board could produce a more balanced decision-making process.
Separately, staff introduced a proposal to expand the Board of Finance from five to seven members by adding the council president and the city solicitor or their designees, with a provision that the chair or vice chair may not be an elected official or their designate. The proposal was presented as coming from the council president's office.
No formal action was taken; staff said these items will require drafting and analysis by the Department of Legislative Reference and the law department to identify code or regulatory changes the charter edits would trigger.
