Former councilman to take over Finance Dept

Real Estate Weekly, Dec 20, 1995 by Lois Weiss

While the movement of Cerullo, known as an attorney with a municipal government background but little publicly-known finance experience, seemed risky for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, his appointment actually heralds a change in attitude for the often criticized agency that has been most recently shackled by a cantankerous computer system and ongoing budgetary restraints.

Cerullo, a voter and consumer-oriented individual, was elected to the City Council from the Mid-boro and South Shore sections of Staten Island in May, 1990. He served four years as Republican Leader, as well.

But Cerullo has actually been an integral part of city budget negotiations for the past ten years, from the time he was a Council staff attorney. He has also played an active part in ongoing Finance consolidation and expansion discussions.

"I don't walk into this as blind as people might think," he said last week in a telephone interview, "because I know the people who interact with the agency and I [have been a] part of tackling some of the issues."

As a Council Member, Cerullo was a member of the City Council Finance Committee, and over the last two years, as head of Consumer Affairs, has always been active and concerned about property taxes and other financial issues, from parking violations to bond ratings.

"I worked here on some of the budgetary issues," he said, albeit internally and not in the public's attention.

From his experiences as the city's head consumer proponent, he also has the ability to make Finance a cohesive, responsive and customer-friendly organization.

"In my discussions with the Mayor and the administration," he recalled, "they were extremely concerned about taking the Department of Finance and helping to lead it into the 21st Century with respect to customer service and becoming consumer-friendly. This involves meeting the expectations of the public as well as to ease the delivery of service. Those were the kinds of things I tackled here at Consumer Affairs."

Not only was it important to the Mayor to have an agency head that could administrate and achieve compliance with enforcement and collections, but it was also essential to find someone who could make the agency a comfortable fit with the public.

"It should be an agency that uses its responsibility to do outreach and seek voluntary compliance," explained Cerullo, "and saves the city money in the long run, along with finding ways of seeking greater collections."

During this administration, Cerullo has also worked on an internal steering committee with current Finance Commissioner Joseph Lhota that is focusing on Finance Department issues, including the collections and consolidation programs, one-stop permit shopping, department reorganizations and the Parking Violations Bureau.

"The primary mission of the committee was to create a system whereby all of the city's licensing functions would be in one place," Cerullo explained, "and all of the collections and ultimately all of the responsibility of adjudication in one tribunal."

By January, the Department of Health and Consumer Affairs will be on the licensing data base. "That will be very helpful for those businesses that need to access both, like restaurants," he said. The committee is currently working on a Manhattan licensing center, as well as locations and siting for the other boroughs.

"This has to do with access to the public and bringing the services to the community and public so it's not the nightmarish experience that people have had with a particular agency," he said. "So [my appointment] seemed like a natural fit," Cerullo added.

Nor did Cerullo campaign for the job. "I'm not one of those that does that," he shyly admitted. "I knew some changes would be taking place [because Office of Management and the Budget head Marc V. Shaw would be taking a job with the MTA] but no one knew exactly what. This is a wonderful opportunity."

While Cerullo will probably remain officially at Consumer Affairs for another couple of weeks, he is already spending a great deal of time at Finance and getting to know the people and the internal programs.

"The staff at Finance is extremely professional and to join that team and take on the issues of fiscal stability and the collecting of revenues is something I'm extremely interested in succeeding at," he said.

Cerullo also believes that if there are problems that affect the workings of an agency, they should be admitted so that they can be corrected. "The Department has made some gains, but there is really a long way to go," he said. "One of the things I could pride myself on is that I have open ears. It's best to talk to the people who experience the problems and work with [these issues] every day. It will save a lot of time. If people know what they are, I should be listening to them and I am looking forward to that opportunity to sit down with them. My goal is to get the job done."

Cerullo recalled that when he came to Consumer Affairs there were also problems. "Morale was low here as well," he said. "I came in when there was a doubt as to the long-term existence of the agency within the whole scheme of downsizing government. We really turned the agency around and eliminated its unnecessary functions."