ALBANY, N.Y. -- Albany Common Councilor Dominick Calsalaro (D) said, "That has been rumored for years."

A handful of Albany City Council members say they may try to subpoena city workers to find out why a couple of programs allowed some in the city to avoid parking tickets for years.

Albany Common Councilor Corey Ellis (D) said, "I don't know who's responsible. That's what the investigation is about."

Officials say the "Bullseye" program allowed those with a sticker to avoid parking tickets. The VIP list involved cars that, if ticketed, would have no fines once the license plate number was inputted into the city database.

"This administration said it's over," said Ellis. "How could it be over if they did not know it was going on?"

While the issue isn't new, six councilors say if they can get a majority, they could subpoena the police chief and police union president to get answers. A partial list of plates that received special treatment appears to show many city vehicles, including Albany police, but councilors say it's not legitimate for relatives of some city workers to have access to the programs too.

Calsalaro said, "For the police cars going to court it is, but not for the wives of police officers and girlfriends of police officers."

No one's sure how much city revenue may have been lost by the no-charge tickets, but the mayor said this involved mostly city vehicles on city business, so he said this is much ado about very little.

Mayor Jerry Jennings (D) said, "This is an election year. People try to make issues that really aren't that outstanding. I've been dealing with it since it was brought to my attention."

Jennings said a new placard system will be used for city workers needing to park. An Albany police spokesman told us, "The whole process of Bullseye and VIP were terminated once it came out. We are moving to a placard system."

The police union president said he isn't responsible either, saying, "Since I've been local president I've had no discussion with then Chief Turley or current Chief Tuffey. As far as the VIP list, we just gained knowledge on this in the last couple months...We have no control...over any computer or personnel who would be directed to not give a ticket."

Ellis said, "We will be able to connect those dots."

A spokesman for the state comptroller's office said they are currently reviewing the matter to decide whether or not to conduct an audit.