Metro

Income ‘lax’: 67 NYC honchos hide wealth

Sixty-seven top city employees thumbed their noses at filing required personal-wealth forms this year — including a former assistant commissioner in the Department of Housing Preservation and Development who pleaded guilty to accepting $2.5 million in bribes, The Post has learned.

The list of deadbeats was whittled down from more than 100 after the city Conflicts of Interest Board sent out warning letters to nonfilers in May, stating they would be fined if they did not submit the forms, which list private income and investments to reveal any potential conflicts between the employees’ public jobs and private income.

About 35 workers filled out the disclosure forms after getting the warning letters. Violations begin at $250, and can be as much as $10,000 if COIB takes the matters to the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

The list of nonfilers, which COIB turned over at The Post’s request, includes Wendell Walters, the former assistant commissioner at HPD who pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of bribery in part of a larger scam.

He was fired after his October 2011 indictment, but was still responsible to fill out the COIB forms for calendar year 2011, which were due in May of this year.

In addition to elected officials, about 8,300 in the city’s 300,000-plus work force must report their private income and holdings to the city. COIB mandates the filings from anyone in a policy-making position.

Agencies with a high number of nonfilers include Education and Health departments and the Health and Hospitals Corp.

sgoldenberg@nypost.com