City Council members are taking cabs, buying MetroCards, hiring photographers and paying pricey consultants on the taxpayers' dime, the Daily News has learned.
Lawmakers spent $7,364 on MetroCards last fiscal year, $11,234 on photographers, $254,480 on consultants and $17,502 on travel, which includes black cars, E-ZPasses and cabs, documents show.
The perks are allowed under funding each member receives for staffing and other office matters. They have wide latitude on how to spend the funds, and it's one of the few areas not being reduced in the upcoming year.
Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez (D-Brooklyn) topped the charts with $41,923 in consulting fees, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Law. Half went to her communications director, Michael Schweinsburg, and $11,000 went to Promotional Strategies, a Queens-based campaign consulting agency. Gonzalez defended her spending, noting, "I'm very careful."
Gonzalez was hardly alone in her consultant spending spree.
Councilman Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan) dished out $32,833 to consultants, including youth services director David Feiner.
Councilwoman Helen Sears (D-Queens) gave $30,997 in consulting fees to civic leaders who serve as community liaisons. "We don't have staff to work day and night," she said.
Each Council member received $277,336 for staff and office expenses last year. Committee leaders got an additional $40,000. Each earns a base of $112,500.
Councilman Larry Seabrook (D-Bronx) shelled out $1,140 on MetroCards. Councilwoman Helen Foster (D-Bronx) followed with a $1,100 tab.
Sears, however, spent the most on local travel - $4,208 - and was trailed by Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens), who logged $3,414 in cab fares. Councilman James Gennaro (D-Queens) dished out $1,319 to Masada II Car Limo Service for travel.
Sears defended her spending, saying the cabs are used to get to meetings throughout the day.
Few rules govern where the cash goes and how much is spent.
Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP-Brooklyn) spent $9,300 on maids and exterminators while at least three members spent nothing. Her two-level office with three bathrooms in a Brooklyn brownstone is "a lot to clean," she said.
More startling were the differences in rental payments.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose district includes trendy Chelsea, spent $52,167 for the year, while Gerson, of lower Manhattan, spent nothing. He uses free government offices, his spokesman said.
Councilwoman Jessica Lappin (D-Manhattan) paid about $30,000 for her upper East Side offices, the same as Councilman James Oddo (R-S.I.) paid for his New Dorp digs. "It's a challenge," Lappin said.
The war chest for individual office spending has increased 15% in the past five years.
The revelations come as the Council is under fire for relying on phantom organizations to siphon money to pet projects in various districts.
"Because of the recent Council scandals, they have to make sure all money is being spent appropriately," said Elizabeth Lynam, research director at the Citizens Budget Commission.
"As we've seen, there are practices that have been historic that may not be appropriate."
