New Hartford not returning money to developers

Officials find uses for unused funds


By ELIZABETH COOPER

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Nov 20, 2009 @ 06:56 PM

Last update Nov 20, 2009 @ 07:00 PM


NEW HARTFORD

Faced with a “use it or lose it” situation, the town won’t be refunding any of the mitigation fees received from developers by a year-end deadline.

More than $691,000 of the fees came in contracts that require any unused money to be returned by 2010.

Such fees are paid by developers of projects in the French Road and Seneca Turnpike-Commercial Drive corridors in order to mitigate the effects of their projects on town infrastructure.

Officials initially believed some of the $691,000 might have to be returned when the deadline first came to light in September, but since then have scrambled to find ways to spend much of that money in order to beat the 2010 target date.

Now, about $1.1 million will have been spent from the fee accounts by the end of the year – including about $850,000 since September.

Town officials say an outside lawyer has told them they can count the $691,000 part of it.

“Based on the legal opinion, this is the recommended course of action,” town Budget Director Heather Mowat said.

The town would not release the letter detailing that opinion, however, citing attorney-client privilege.

Mowat said the remaining funds must be used by 2013, according to the legal opinion from Glens Falls-based attorney Mark Schachner. Mowat said future agreements likely wouldn’t contain a deadline date.

Town officials said they believed they could find uses for the remaining funds before their 2013 expiration date.

The projects
Since September, when officials learned the money might have to be returned, they have searched for ways to spend it.

In September, the Town Board transferred more than $584,000 in mitigation fees into its main savings account.

Among the other expenditures:

- $65,000 in paving for Woods Highway.

- $50,000 for a study for Woods Highway improvements.

- $50,000 for repairs to manhole covers.

- $45,000 for upgrades to a ditch along Woods Highway.

Those projects are either about to start, are ongoing or have been recently completed, Mowat said.

Some of the money also will be used to purchase a new police car, which was eliminated from the town’s 2010 budget, Mowat said.

‘I never expected it back’
One business owner who paid $1,458 for a 1995 project said she wasn’t surprised.

“I never expected it back,” said Donna Robinson, owner of Klippers hair salon on Seneca Turnpike. “I figured they would find a way to use it. I could not imagine they would cut us all checks.”

Other businesses with 2010 expiration dates paid far more, including one for Dove Eye & Laser Center, which paid the town $62,600 in 1998, town records show.

Robinson said her salon could have used the money.

“We’re a small business,” she said. “That’s a (utility) bill.”

Information from letter limited
Schachner’s letter gives opinions on numerous issues related to the mitigation fees, including liability and the fact that 25 of the 115 contracts are lost.

Robert Freeman, executive Director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, said the town was within its rights to withhold the letter.

“The client can choose to waive the privilege,” he said. “That is their call.”

Town Supervisor Earle Reed and board members Robert Payne III and Rich Woodland Jr. could not be reached.

Mowat outlined several of the letter’s key points. Among them:

- The town must repay any unused funds by the date specified in the contract.

- The Town Board can decide to transfer money between accounts earmarked for specific types of projects. For example, funds in accounts for storm water mitigation may be used for highway-related projects if the board approves it.

-  About $730,330 in interest accrued on the money does not have to be returned to the developers.

Board members Christine Krupa and David Reynolds said they were glad attorney Schachner had clarified things.

“Now that we know the parameters, we can go forward and get some capital projects completed,” Reynolds said.

Town Supervisor-elect Patrick Tyksinski said he doesn’t think any of the money should be paid back, no matter what the contracts state.
 


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