Criscuolo Forced To Lower Prices

DSCF0175.jpgThe city’s top-grossing marshal will have to drop his fees, because of competing bids that came in under the city’s newly reformed marshal process.

Peter Criscuolo (pictured) was one of seven marshals to submit bids by Tuesday’s deadline in a new process for city-related marshal work. The new process seeks to drive down the hefty fees that taxpayers have to pay when a marshal slaps them with a city foreclosure suit or serves them a tax warrant: Click here for background.

The new bidding process, spurred by a proposal by Hill Alderman Jorge Perez, will definitely save the city money, said city purchasing agent Mike Fumiatti. He wouldn’t say how much, because he hasn’t crunched the numbers yet.

The new process requires marshals to give their best offer, instead of automatically charging the maximum fee allowed by the state, for a number of tasks.

Criscuolo remains the highest-grossing marshal doing city-related work. Last year, he took in over $234,000 in gross income from serving city tax warrants and from law firms who do foreclosure work with the city, according to his latest income filing. That figure was three times what any other marshal made on city-related work.

As the city floated reforms to the marshal process, Criscuolo maintained that he would continue charging the statutory fees laid out by the state. He said he did not intend to go lower.

Then Tuesday rolled around.

Several of his competing marshals did go lower, according to Fumiatti. Some gave a percentage mark-down from the statutory fees. Fumiatti didn’t say how much lower they bid. He intends to negotiate with the list of seven marshals and will probably hold them to the lowest bid.

That means Criscuolo, and any other marshal who may have bid the maximum fees, will have to drop their prices if they want to keep working with the city.

I will have to negotiate with the other marshals who bid lower, I guess,” said Criscuolo. He described the development as a historical first.

I’ve been doing business 25 years with the city,” said Criscuolo. This is the first
time in the history of the marshals and sheriffs that we’ve had to do this.”

The city’s new RFP process is modeled after one introduced by the city Housing Authority.

The new bidding process drew one new marshal to the table. Of the seven marshals who responded, six have done work with the city before: Susan Voigt, Jerry Juliano, Nick Balletto, James Morrissey, William Nolan and Peter Criscuolo.

The seventh, Robert Miller, hasn’t worked directly with the city, but he’s not a new face: He currently serves foreclosure writs for the city Housing Authority.

Though the RFPs didn’t draw much new blood to the process, Fumiatti said the reforms would definitely make an impact.

It’s all about saving money for the constituency,” he said.

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