New York City finance commissioner Martha Stark last week resigned after allegations of favoritism. Deputy commissioner Michael Hyman will serve as acting commissioner until a permanent replacement is found.
Earlier this month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked the city’s Department of Investigation to look into Stark’s relationship with a former assistant commissioner.
In addition, investigators in 2007 found that a parking ticket judge who is married to a senior Department of Finance employee received pay while not working, according to reports.
Following Stark’s resignation, the mayor praised her accomplishments for the city.
“This afternoon I accepted the resignation of Martha E. Stark as New York City’s finance commissioner,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “On behalf of the nearly 8.4 million New Yorkers, I want to thank Martha for her years of service, and I want to recognize the many reforms that finance developed and implemented under her leadership. From our earned income tax-credit mailing project, to the new clear and informative property tax bills, to the $400 rebate checks, Martha made the Finance Department — and our city — a better place.”
Bloomberg appointed Stark as finance commissioner in 2002 to manage 2,300 employees with the task of collecting $22 billion of annual tax revenue, conducting tax audits, and processing more than one million parking tickets a year, among other duties.
