Power Authority to End Contributions

[Linda_D]

This is an interesting article on changes coming to the public authorities in NYS ...

I would like to see the Thruway Authority get out of the Barge Canal business because the canal program is a big time money loser and is a major reason why the TA has to continually raise tolls. I'm not sure what should be done with the canal system, but the Thruway shouldn't be involved in it.

Power Authority ordered to end charitable contributions

Ruling prohibits gifts unrelated to core mission

By James Heaney NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 11/30/07 7:28 AM

The State Power Authority is cleaning up its million-dollar-a-year pork-barrel program that used ratepayers’ money for everything from underwriting St. Patrick’s Day parades and jazz festivals to supporting youth sports teams and volunteer fire departments.
State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has issued a legal opinion that effectively prohibits state authorities from making charitable contributions not related to their core mission. The Power Authority, which may dole out more such contributions than any other state authority, has agreed to revamp its program.
The authority for years has handed out grants as small as $30 to as much as $112,500 a year to agencies and local governments across the state under its so-called corporate support program. Authority officials describe the program as an effort to be a good corporate citizen in the communities where it operates.
But the program has been loosely administered — there’s a limited criteria for distributing the money and no formal review process. The program also had a distinctly political flavor to it, The Buffalo News found in an investigation published in May.
Former Gov. George E. Pataki’s hometown of Peekskill was a favorite recipient. Authority funds helped stage mock Olympics for politicians and lobbyists at Lake Placid. Organizations with ties to ranking authority officials found themselves in the money.
Locally, everything from festivals to business organizations to volunteer fire departments benefited from the authority’s largess. But Western New York has received a disproportionately small share of the money, given that the Niagara Power Project in Lewiston is the authority’s biggest moneymaker.
Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, the Power Authority’s most vocal critic, described the move to overhaul the program as an "overdue reform."
"These authorities — the Power Authority, the Thruway Authority — become addicted to the cash they generate and take on these extraneous obligations, which have have nothing to do with their core mission," he said.
"Some of these groups are worthy of assistance, but it should not come on the back of ratepayers."
The Power Authority’s decision to revamp its program was triggered by an opinion related to the Long Island Power Authority. Earlier this year, that authority asked the attorney general’s opinion on the legality of several of its spending practices, including charitable contributions.
Cuomo, in an opinion issued Oct. 9, said the state law governing authorities does not grant the Long Island utility the ability to make charitable contributions that are not related to its mission.
Brian Vattimo, the Power Authority’s senior vice president for public and governmental affairs, said Cuomo’s staff subsequently called lawyers for his agency, advising that the opinion was applicable to the authority.
"We’re in the process of evaluating the opinion and revising our corporate support policy to reflect that opinion," said Vattimo, who oversees the program.
Vattimo said he expects that a "majority" of programs funded in the past will no longer be eligible for authority aid, although he would not rule out retaining portions of the program that are energy-related.
The News investigation looked at $5.9 million in contributions to 811 organizations from 1999 to 2005. Many contributions were of the momand- pop variety — under $1,000 to local little leagues, Elks Clubs and Police Benevolent Associations.
There were big-ticket items, as well. The Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates facilities used in the Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics, used one-third of the $366,045 it received on the Winter Olympic Congressional Challenge, a sort of mock Olympics for congressmen, their relatives and staff, lobbyists and authority executives.
Authority President Roger Kelley has already informed the Olympic Authority that no more money will be forthcoming.
The authority also was generous to governments and organizations in White Plains and Westchester County, where its headquarters is located. The City of White Plains alone received more than $250,000, far more than any government in Western New York.
At least a dozen organizations in Pataki’s hometown of Peekskill received more than $170,000 from the Power Authority. The lion’s share went to the group that stages summer festivals.
Organizations in Niagara and Erie counties received about $935,000 over the sevenyear period, thanks in part to a spike in contributions in 2005, when the Power Authority was negotiating with local governments in an effort to secure support for its federal application for a 50-year extension of its license to operate the Niagara Power Project.
Several communities and organizations in a position to influence the negotiations with the Power Authority received some of the largest contributions. The Buffalo Niagara Partnership, the region’s leading business organization, received the biggest increase from the authority, from $5,000 in 2004 to $50,378 the following year.
The authority gave an unexpected $40,000 to Erie County — at the height of its fiscal crisis — to keep afloat the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission. Both County Executive Joel A. Giambra and authority officials succeeded in keeping the donation anonymous at the time.
Other contributions over the years have gone to community organizations under less questionable circumstances.
The Greater Lewiston Business and Professional Association was the largest local recipient, getting $174,990, followed by the Lewiston Public Library at $100,000. Other notable recipients include the Lower Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce, the Upper Mountain Fire Co. and the now-shuttered Festival of Lights.
Smaller recipients, who have typically gotten $50 to $200 a shot, include the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara Falls, the Kiwanis Club of Lewiston and the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra.

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/218044.html

[Genoobie]

Interesting.

So now that they will no longer make charitable contributions, will we see that money returned to the ratepayers?

Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?

[CSense]

Wonder how that will effect the toll hike?

[Linda_D]

Here's a news article from the Albany Times Union concerning a proposal by the OSC to limit the authorities to their "core missions"... If passed, this one would, indeed, limit the need for the TA to continually raise tolls since it wouldn't have to pay for the canal maintenance.

Reform would shift funding
Comptroller to offer plan limiting public authorities' spending to "core missions"
By James M. Odato, Capitol bureau
First published: Friday, November 30, 2007

ALBANY -- The state should take over billions of dollars a year in spending by public authorities on things that have nothing to do with their mission, such as the Thruway Authority's costly subsidization of the Canal Corp., Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Thursday.
DiNapoli said he will be announcing legislation that directs public authorities to "go back to core missions" -- ending practices of carrying out functions, activities and programs that don't fall within their reasons for being.
"We're going to suggest a pathway for that to happen," he said.
As an example, he said, the Thruway Authority's takeover of the Canal Corp. in 1992 during the Gov. Mario Cuomo administration is costing the authority tens of millions of dollars a year. Those costs are a factor in the authority's demands for toll increases, according to Sen. Dale Volker, R-Depew, who has been fighting the proposed hikes.
DiNapoli, who highlighted the need for authority fiscal reforms in a speech at the Rockefeller Institute, said authority borrowing and spending must be restricted as part of an overall rehabilitation of state financial practices.
The Thruway's oversight of the canal system happened at a time when Gov. Cuomo was consolidating agencies. As a result, the state Department of Transportation transferred the responsibility of the canals to the Thruway Authority, shifting tens of millions of dollars in costs off the state treasury.
DiNapoli seems to want to bring such spending back into the state executive's responsibilities. Such a plan might result in canal costs being borne by all taxpayers, not just those who use the canal and Thruway.
The Democrat, appointed to a four-year term this year, declined to detail the legislation he will unveil next year.
But other examples of authorities overseeing functions not related to their mission include the Housing Finance Corp. issuing tobacco bonds to help the state balance its budget; the Dormitory Authority issuing bonds for hospital construction; or Empire State Development Corp. and the Dormitory Authority coordinating member items -- community grants -- for lawmakers.
The comptroller's plan could help Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has said he has limited sway with with some authorities, such as the Thruway Authority, because of numerous holdovers from the previous governor's appointments.
DiNapoli's plans include:
Creating authority trustee posts with staggered four-year terms. The Thruway board members get nine-year appointments, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's are six years, he noted.
"Both of those authorities can have major impact on taxpayers by essentially raising taxes through toll and fare hikes, but governors may have to wait years to have enough appointments to influence their boards," DiNapoli said.
Easier to read state budgets, an annual expenditure and all state contracts installed on the Web.
A hard cap on any new debt because the cap installed by the Legislature and Gov. George Pataki in 2000 is so "porous," $17 billion in new borrowing was excluded from the cap. A broader definition of debt is necessary, said Citizens Budget Commission analyst Elizabeth Lynam.
Capital project financing tied to a comprehensive plan for roads, bridge and dam construction.
Lynam and other analysts said DiNapoli's ideas seem good, though more particulars are needed.
"As described they're intriguing and promising," said E.J. McMahon, director of the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/sto...ate=11/30/2007

[CSense]

Here's a news article from the Albany Times Union concerning a proposal by the OSC to limit the authorities to their "core missions"... If passed, this one would, indeed, limit the need for the TA to continually raise tolls since it wouldn't have to pay for the canal maintenance.

Well at least Di Napoli is doing something. I thought Splitzer was supposed to be reforming the Authorities?