The city gave secret permission to Finance Commissioner Martha Stark to moonlight at a real-estate company — despite rules forbidding department heads to engage in outside employment, The Post has learned.
Stark, 48 – who makes a $189,700 salary as the city’s chief of real-estate assessment and tax collection – works on the side at Tarragon Corp., a Manhattan-based company that builds apartment complexes in New Jersey, Connecticut and several other states.
Tarragon paid her $90,316 in 2007 and $44,126 in 2006, company filings show. That included $104,000 in cash plus stocks and stock options.
No other city commissioner or department head enjoys a similar outside gig, officials said.
But the Mayor’s Office said it was unaware of Stark’s extracurricular employment until The Post inquired about it Friday.
“We’ve just learned of the matter, and we’re reviewing it expeditiously,” said Mayor Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna.
The City Charter requires that department heads “give whole time to the duties of the office and . . . not engage in any other occupation, profession or employment.”
Stark joined Tarragon as a member of its board of directors in December 2005.
Stark would not comment, but her office released a confidential April 11, 2005, letter from Steven Rosenfeld, chairman of the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, saying her work for Tarragon “would not violate” city rules, under certain conditions.
Stark would have to recuse herself from any city matter involving Tarragon or its officers or shareholders, among other restrictions, the board letter said.
Based on information from Stark, the letter said that Tarragon did not own any property or real-estate investments in the city, but that its president Robert Rothenberg, had an interest in seven rent-stabilized co-op apartments.
The letter also said the city Law Department told Stark that her work for Tarragon “would not conflict” with the City Charter’s “whole time” rule for commissioners.
Law Department spokeswoman Kate Ahlers told The Post that it had a “long-standing view” that the charter “permits occasional outside activity, such as service on a board, writing, or teaching” that involves minimal time.
Besides her $22,000-a- year cash payment as a Tarragon director and a member of its audit committee, Stark served on a special panel to examine financial strategies. That seven-month task earned her an extra $2,000 a month plus a $50,000 bonus.
Tarragon filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in January while it seeks new investors.
Tarragon’s CEO, William Friedman, said that the board meets at least four times a year for about two hours at a time and that the audit committee meets afterward for a half-hour or so.
“We typically meet at 8:30 in the morning or at 5 p.m., because all the directors have other jobs,” he said.
Stark spokesman Owen Stone said her Tarragon work was “not on city time,” a required 35-hour week.
“She dedicates far more hours to Finance than her job description requires, and the city gets more than its money’s worth,” Stone said.