New Hartford has $3.3 million and 'confusion' about where to spend it

$3.3M meant to deal with impacts of growth

By ELIZABETH COOPER

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Sep 01, 2009 @ 07:14 PM

Last update Sep 01, 2009 @ 10:21 PM

NEW HARTFORD —

More than $3.3 million has accumulated over more than 15 years in a pair of town accounts meant for dealing with the impacts of development, town records show.

Since the early 1990s, developers doing projects in the town have been required to pay fees. During that time, major development has taken place in the town, including the building of The Orchard and Consumer Square shopping plazas.

For example, in 2004, the Kohl’s clothing store in The Orchard shopping center paid a $276,713 fee.

But of about $4.1 million brought in, only about 20 percent has been spent, records show.

“It just seems that every day it’s a new revelation that some things that should have been done hadn’t been done,” Town Planning Board Chairman Jerome Donovan said.

These funds — known as fees in lieu of mitigation, or FILM — are earmarked for various types of projects to ease the impacts of development, including highway and sewer repairs and police coverage.

In recent months, the town has been looking for projects where the funds could be used, town Budget Director Heather Mowat said.

Mowat said she also is going over records of past projects where the funds could have been used, but taxpayer dollars were spent instead.

When she is able to verify the development funds could have been used, she recommends reimbursement of the town’s taxpayer-funded savings account.

“I think there has been some confusion as to the process of expending the FILM funding,” she said.

Republican Councilwoman Christine Krupa said she believed more of the money should have been spent by now.

“The problem lies in the fact that you can’t just go spend it on anything you want,” she said, referring to rules guiding how the money is spent.

A policy is now under development to clarify how the money should be spent, officials said.

How the fund works

The practice of collecting the fees in lieu of mitigation began in the early 1990s, when New Hartford passed two Generic Environmental Impact Statements. One was for the area surrounding Commercial Drive and Seneca Turnpike, and the other was for the area surrounding French Road.

By law, once such documents are accepted by a town board, the town then can begin asking developers for the payments. The money can only be used in the area the project is located within.

Developers also may opt to pay for specific projects designated by the town, rather than contributing to the fund.

Over the years, developers paid thousands of dollars into the funds as new shopping centers popped up in the area.

* In 2002, a variety of stores and restaurants opened at Commercial Drive’s Consumer Square. that project was built by Benderson Development Co. of Buffalo.

* More retailers, restaurants and a movie theater began opening two years later at The Orchard on Clinton Street. The Orchard developer Larry Adler couldn’t be reached Tuesday.

The Commercial Drive/Seneca Turnpike account now totals $2.7 million.

Of that, $176,204 can only be used for highway projects. The Seneca Turnpike account also has about $1.2 million dedicated for storm water and wetland management projects.

Asked why so little of the money had been spent during his administration, town Supervisor Earle Reed said he didn’t believe there were any specific projects the money could be used for.

“We are using them now,” he said, noting that some of the funds were being used on a project at Woods Highway. “I think you will see some projects coming in the future.”

Uses of money

A look at the account tallies provided by the town showed that the New Hartford Police Department has used by far the largest percentage of the money it could access, compared to other departments.

“I saw this money sitting there, and I said, ‘why wouldn’t I do this,’” police Chief Raymond Philo said. “I’m giving my officers what they need, and the taxpayers aren’t spending a dime.”

Of $186,114 allocated for policing, he has spent all but $13,287.

Philo used much of the money to purchase equipment such as laptop computers for police cars, he said.

But in other departments, it’s possible the money was not accessed, and taxpayer dollars were used when they didn’t have to be, Mowat said.

Former town Supervisor Ralph Humphries, who served in that position from 2002 through 2005, said he had tried to find uses for the money, but no projects fit the criteria.

Neither current Highway Superintendent Rick Sherman nor his predecessor Roger Cleveland returned calls Tuesday.

The funds can even be used to pay for the Generic Environmental Impact Statements themselves, Mowat said.

The Seneca Turnpike/Commercial Drive study cost $571,000, but only about $74,000 in FILM money was used to reimburse the town’s taxpayer-funded main savings account, she said.

The other study cost $182,000, but the town has only reimbursed the savings account with $77,000.

Mowat said she is working on transferring the funds over. She said she is also looking for other similar examples.