Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the appointment of Martha E. Stark, Esq. as Commissioner of the Department of Finance. The Department of Finance administers and enforces New York City business, property, and excise tax laws and collects these taxes, as well as parking ticket fines, penalties, judgments, and other charges related to those taxes and fines. The Department educates the public about its rights and responsibilities in order to achieve the highest level of voluntary compliance, responds to requests from the public for information and assistance, provides a forum for contesting parking tickets, and protects the confidentiality of tax returns.

"I am very pleased to name Martha Stark as Finance Commissioner and am happy to announce her return to the Department of Finance after eight years," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Given her more than 15 years experience in business, law, education, government and policy, I am confident that the department and the City will be well served by Martha Stark."

"I am thrilled and honored to join the Bloomberg Administration and to accept another opportunity to serve the City of New York," Stark said. "I look forward to working with the impressive team the Mayor has assembled. I developed my passion for government service during my tenure at the Department of Finance. I am very eager to work with the staff at Finance and ensure that the department operates with the highest level of integrity. I will work tirelessly to see to it that New Yorkers trust that the agency charged with collecting taxes will do so fairly and with integrity."

Martha E. Stark held senior management posts in the New York City Department of Finance from 1990 to 1993. Since 2000 Stark has been a Portfolio Manager at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation where she was responsible for making grants and providing support to youth serving organizations. She has also worked at Baruch College as an assistant professor in the Department of Law and contributed to the 2001 Council Members Guidebook prepared by the School of Public Affairs. Stark has also taught courses on state and local budget and finance at Hunter College's Graduate School of Urban Affairs and Planning. From 1998 to 1999 Stark was responsible for a New York City housing cost study for the New York University School of Law. From 1993-1994, she served as a White House Fellow at the U.S. Department of State where she helped the Undersecretaries develop a strategic plan. In past years, she also served as director and deputy counsel for policy and development in the Office of the Manhattan Borough President; and practiced corporate and tax law at a Brooklyn-based law firm.

Martha Stark grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn. She is a graduate of New York University School of Law and holds a bachelor's degree from New York University where she played varsity basketball. In her free time, she coaches girls' basketball in Manhattan.