THE RECORDER
Amsterdam, NY
March 9, 2005

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A closer look at the district audit

To the editor:

Among the findings of state Comptroller Alan Hevesi's devastating audit of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, the state authority that governs Great Sacandaga Lake, was that board members were illegally receiving full health, vision and dental benefits - even though a 1992 law states that they should serve without salary or compensation. As a result, benefits for post-1992 board members have been discontinued.

By invoking the Freedom of Information Law, the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee has obtained the public's first look at the names on the benefits list. During fiscal year 2003-2004, benefits awarded to 12 past or present board members cost the district a total of more than $88,000. They include present board members James D. Jankowski of Broadalbin (total benefits: $10,621) and Anne B. McDonald of Ticonderoga ($1,598). Incidentally, both were involved in the board's illegal attempt in 2003 to hike access permit fees by as much as 1,000 percent. Also keep in mind that board service basically involves just a half-day meeting once a month.

Other familiar names on the list are Timothy J. Noonan of Old Forge ($11,386) and James L. Conkling of Northville ($1,598). Both resigned from the board last December. According to an article on Great Sacandaga's scandals in the April 2005 issue of Adirondack Life Magazine, Mr. Noonan "is being sued by the APA and the New York Attorney General's office. State officials claim that he damaged a wetland and began work on a 19,000-square-foot mansion on the shores of Second Lake, one of the water bodies managed by the regulating district. The APA had approved a house one-eighth that size."

Who was responsible for authorizing these illegal benefits to post-1992 board members? How come the problem wasn't spotted by the district's legal counsel, whom Comptroller Hevesi found was being paid a full-time salary of $75,000 for a 18-hour work week? We'll never know. But it is clear that the district was rooking the downstream hydroelectric plant operators that pay most of the reservoir's operating costs and that pass them along to their customers. So if Niagara Mohawk supplies your electricity, you kicked in your share. Remember, the figures above represent just one year, and this has been going on since 1992.

Peter VanAvery,
Edinburg