County Executive Rob Astorino has been able to go around the Democratic-controlled Board of Legislators when it comes to his proposal for a local development corporation.
At Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco Oct. 1, Astorino announced that the hospital will be able to immediately get $36 million in tax-free municipal bonding, despite the fact that county legislators voted against his LDC proposal last week.
According to an opinion by the LDC”™s bond counsel Nixon Peabody L.L.P., the board”™s participation is not necessary to approve funding requests.
“There is no requirement ”¦ that requires the legislative body of a municipality to consent to the creation of a local development corporation by the chief executive,” Peabody said.
Northern Westchester Hospital plans on building new operating rooms and modernizing patient care units. The hospital said it expects to save $6 million thanks to the tax-free bonds.
“Our mission is to offer higher-quality health care,” said Hatsy Vallar, president of the Northern Westchester Hospital Foundation. “Having state-of-the-art operating rooms is of the upmost priority. Tax exempt financing is essential to the success of this project.”
The county legislators voted against the project because they believe Astorino”™s LDC gives the county executive too much power and does not conform to guidelines for LDCs put out by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
The LDC was formed in January to issue tax-free bonds that were formerly available from the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency. The IDA lost its bonding power in 2008 when legislation authorizing it to finance civic or nonprofit projects expired.
Majority Leader Peter Harckham (D-Katonah) said legislators are not blocking the LDC but simply trying to find a way forward. Northern Westchester Hospital is in Harckham”™s district.
“We want to work through the comptroller”™s guidelines,” Harckham said. “The proposed LDC really flies in the face of the comptroller”™s report.”
Harckham said the LDC needs more checks and balances or else the LDC would be allowed to do anything.
“It needs proper oversight and accountability,” he said.
Astorino said that dealing with the county legislators was frustrating and an LDC is proof that government and the private sector can solve projects together.
“We have an obligation to do this and not let the process be bogged down,” Astorino said. “We are helping Northern Westchester Hospital do what it is in the business of doing.”
The county executive said the legislators are playing politics and not working in a bipartisan manner.
“We need to figure out how to get the economy moving,” Astorino said. “We gave them an opportunity to be a part of the process and they voted it down. They should”™ve been part of the process and they chose not to be.”
Harckham said the county executive”™s latest move proves his point that there is not enough accountability and transparency in Astorino”™s proposal.
“One individual can”™t go around handing out checks,” Harckham said. “This should be very troubling to the taxpayers that one person is walking around handing out goodies.”
The majority leader said the legislators are responsible for the county”™s purse strings and Astorino”™s move is in violation of the county charter, which says that the county legislators are the only ones allowed to issue bonds.
“This is the guy who said he was for fiscal responsibility and one person handing out checks is fiscally irresponsible,” Harckham said. “This is what the comptroller was talking about.”
Astorino is claiming the Democrats have been refusing to work with him on this project since he initiated it in January, while Harckham said that the legislators did not get any legislation until after Astorino announced the LDC would provide funding to Northern Westchester Hospital and the Rippowam Cisqua School in Bedford.
While the legislators and the county executive continue to squabble over the LDC, business leaders praised the move to help Northern Westchester Hospital noting that it is expected to create 30 jobs, $24 million in construction contracts and $10.7 million in machinery and equipment purchases.
“The LDC is helping our not-for-profits whose budgets are stretched but whose services remain critically important,” Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester said. “This project really needs to move forward.”
Ross Pepe, president of the Construction Industry Council and Building Contractors Association, said there is too much partisanship in county government.
“The legislators need to move forward,” Pepe said. “We need to get people back to work, so they can bring home a wage for their families.”
Hospital officials said they expect construction to begin in the first quarter of 2013 and to be completed by September 2014.
