(
)
The City Council is made up of the haves — and have-a-lots!
New financial-disclosure forms released yesterday show at least one member of the council, Karen Koslowitz, is double-dipping from the public trough, earning a $122,500 salary as a city lawmaker while collecting her city pension, of at least $60,000 a year.
Koslowitz built up her pension after 23 years on the city payroll, including a decade in the council that ended in 2001 after the arrival of term limits. But she was re-elected to the council in 2009 — and after getting her pension.
The Democrat also held posts as a former deputy borough president in Queens and as a City Council aide in the 1980s. She declined to comment.
While Koslowitz is hauling in the public cash, one of her Brooklyn colleagues, David Greenfield, reported getting a fat salary from a nonprofit he ran before he took office in April 2010.
Greenfield, according to his 2010 disclosure form, reported earning between $100,000 and $250,000 from the Sephardic Community Federation — even though he left his post as executive vice president of the organization before taking his council seat.
Greenfield listed the money as a combination of wages and deferred compensation on his latest 2010 disclosure.
But Greenfield’s report for 2009 — when he also claimed his income from the nonprofit was in the same $100,000-to-$250,000 range — doesn’t add up with the group’s IRS forms for that year, showing him pulling in $299,000.
When pressed on the matter, Greenfield only said, “A plain reading of my disclosure form presents income and back income paid to me before I ran for office in the two appropriate sections of the 33-page form.” The group’s current leaders would not comment.
Financial-disclosure forms also reveal Councilman Peter Koo (R-Queens) joined the council’s top earners when it comes to income other than his city paycheck.
Koo, who owns five pharmacies in Queens, earned at least $560,000 last year from his businesses, overshadowing the typical big earners who moonlight as lawyers. Koo says he donates his entire council salary to charity.
Not all council members reported they are flush with cash.
Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn) owes between $45,000 to $396,000, mostly for loans he took out to open a business in Park Slope that went bust.
“As I have openly mentioned previously, I sought to open a vegetarian cafe,” Williams said. “That business unfortunately failed in 2008, putting me in the same position as so many aspiring entrepreneurs in this country. Like those entrepreneurs, I am now working on responsibly meeting my debt obligations.”
And another Brooklyn lawmaker is struggling with debt. Councilman Vincent Gentile’s disclosure forms showed he has outstanding balances on his credit cards, loans and legal fees totaling as much as $444,000.
Gentile declined comment, but The Post has reported that he is involved in a property dispute with his father.