The state Legislature approved a bill Thursday eliminating the Housing Authority’s full-time board positions, along with their six-figure salaries and private chauffeurs.
The bill — inspired by a Daily News series on mismanagement at NYCHA — will also increase tenant representation at the troubled agency.
It passed the Senate 48-11 Thursday, after winning Assembly approval in May. The Assembly now determines when to submit it to Gov. Cuomo.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office declined to say when that would happen.
The move to trim six-figure salaries came as NYCHA revealed plans to fire up to 500 workers and close 37 senior centers and 69 youth centers because of $205 million in federal budget cuts. The authority would also reduce payment rates for Section 8 housing, causing tenants’ rents to rise.
Its response to the budget cuts led mayoral candidate William Thompson to call for Mayor Bloomberg to fire NYCHA Chairman John Rhea.
“Commissioner Rhea completely failed to prepare for federal funding cuts that have been expected for a long time and continues to oversee NYCHA’s perpetual deficits,” Thompson said.
NYCHA’s board now includes a $190,000-a-year full-time chairman, two full-time salaried board members and one voluntary tenant representative.
The full-time board positions — which date to 1958 — pay $187,000 a year and come with an assigned driver. All other housing authorities in New York State rely on part-time board members.
Responding to a News series about NYCHA’s many problems, Bloomberg proposed a new five-member board, ending the two full-time board member positions and upping tenant representation to two.
Assemblyman Keith Wright (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Housing Committee, amended the mayor’s bill, increasing the board to seven — a chair, three part-time members and three tenant reps.
The board members will get a stipend of $250 per month. The chair will continue to receive a salary.
Bloomberg’s bill allowed the mayor to fire board members without explanation; Wright’s version makes the mayor explain reasons for termination.
Though the bill differs from his, Bloomberg praised the Senate for passing “important city-proposed legislation that will allow for significant reforms to the board of (NYCHA) and streamline its management.”
State Sen. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan), ranking member of the Housing Committee, said the new board “is far from perfect” but predicted “more accountability to an agency that desperately needs oversight.”
