DAILY GAZETTE
Schenectady, NY
September 27, 2003

FRONT PAGE

Lake Agency Adds 3 to Staff

Additions, raises come as big hike is sought in fees

By JOE MAHER Gazette Reporter

MAYFIELD - The state regulating agency that wants to increase Great Sacandaga Lake access permit fees an average of 300 percent added three fulltime employees in July and granted raises of more than 5 percent to some of its highest paid administrators, records show.

The Hudson River Black River Regulating District manages the manmade lake. It provided records in response to a Freedom of Information Law request filed this week by The Daily Gazette.

The three new full-time positions include an assistant superintendent at the district's Stillwater Reservoir, at an annual salary of $41,425; an administrator for the Watertown office, at an annual salary of $60,000; and a maintenance worker at the Sacandaga field office in Mayfield, with an annual salary of $29,906.

The regulating district also hired a permanent part-time administrative assistant for the Watertown office, with pay rate set at $14.04 an hour.

The new hires bring the district's staffing level to 28 fulltime employees and two parttimers. The full-time employees' salaries total more than $1.4 million for the 2003-04 fiscal year, up from $1.2 million from the previous fiscal year.

The district also spent $498,051 during the 2002-03 fiscal year on health, dental and vision insurance for active staff and retirees.

For the first quarter of the 2003-2004 year, those numbers are running higher than the first quarter a year ago and are on track to total $540,520 for the year.

According to the regulating district's response, its board members are not paid. But it was unclear whether they receive benefits and compensation such as mileage, information which was sought in the newspaper's FOIL request but was not addressed in the district's response.

It was also unclear whether the salaries listed are locked in for the district's three-year budget cycle which runs through June 2006.

Executive Director Willard W. Loveless was not available for comment Friday afternoon to explain the numbers further.

Loveless is the regulating district's highest-paid staff member and his salary increased from $85,000 to $89,610, or 5.4 percent, this year.

Chief Engineer Robert Foltan now earns $82,014, a 6.1 percent increase over his previous salary of $77,265.

George Scaringe, the district's secretary-treasurer, now earns $63,761, a 3 percent increase from his previous salary of $61,903.

The lowest-paid staff member is the new maintenance worker in the Sacandaga field office, David J. Ioele Sr., at $29,906.

Five workers earn from $34,898 to $39,987. They include maintenance workers, plant operators and an administrative assistant.

Nine earn from $41,194 to $48,529. They include field supervisors, administrative assistants and the new assistant superintendent in Stillwater, Douglas H. Criss.

Five staff members earn from $53,000 to $57,680, including one administrative assistant, the Stillwater Reservoir superintendent and an operations engineer in the Albany office.

Six earn from $60,000 to $89,610 including Loveless, Foltan, Scaringe and Glenn A. La-Fave, the new administrator in the Watertown office.

The district and its board of directors have been criticized by lake-area residents and property owners for proposing the dramatic increase in fees for permits which guarantee property owners access to the lake.

Earlier this week, Loveless said the extra funds raised through permit-access fees will be used to offset the cost of property taxes the district pays.

He said new permit fees will generate an additional $1.5 million in revenue for an annual total of $2 million.

The district issues 4,450 permits to various private landowners and commercial businesses, providing them with access to the lake, a manmade flood-control reservoir.

The total fee for residents is the sum of a base fee and a frontage fee.

For example, the current fee for a 10-foot strip of lakefront is $43 - $35 for the base fee and $8 for the frontage fee. The proposed new fee would be $200 as the district proposes to increase the base fee to $100 and the frontage fee to $100 for that category.

For residents with 10.1 to 50 feet, the total rises from $48 to $250; for 50.1 to 100 feet, from $56 to $400; for 100.1 to 200 feet the fee will rise from $72 to $700; and for 200.1 to 300, the fee will go from $92 to $1,000.

The permits simply allow residents to access the lake via state land - regulating district land - along the shoreline.

The lake was built nearly 75 years ago to control flooding in the Hudson River Valley in the spring and to augment the flow of the river in the summer. Before the reservoir was built flooding was common in cities such as Albany, Troy and Rensselaer.

Those downstream beneficiaries continue to contribute to the reservoir operations today as do the operators of hydroelectric power plants on the Great Sacandaga Lake and the Hudson River.

According to figures provided by the district, those downstream beneficiaries will contribute $2.79 million a year under the district's recently enacted three-year budget that runs through 2006. That's up from $2.39 million a year from the previous three-year budget.

Board members have said that they can no longer afford to subsidize the permit system, Loveless said, and that real property taxes should be the responsibility of all beneficiaries, including those with lakefront property.

Since the Gazette first reported on the proposal on Sept. 16, lake residents have been critical of the proposed fee increases, and the district has scheduled a public comment meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the Northville Central School auditorium.

The district's board also mailed a letter to permit-holders stating that "district administrative staff and board members are reviewing the permit rate schedule and will discuss possible alternatives . . ."

The board is also accepting written comments. They may be mailed to the Albany office, 350 Northern Blvd., Albany, NY 12204, or to the Sacandaga field office, 737 Bunker Hill Road, Mayfield, NY 12117.

The board's next regularly scheduled meeting is 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 6, at the district's Albany office.