Reinvent Albany Commends Court of Appeals Decision Creating Greater Transparency of IDAs and Their Subsidiaries

Reinvent Albany Commends Court of Appeals Decision Creating Greater Transparency of IDAs and Their Subsidiaries

IDA Affiliates Will Be Required to File Reports Shedding Light on Their Operations

Reiterates Call for Substantial Increase to ABO’s Budget

Reinvent Albany praises the New York State Court of Appeals for their decision Thursday requiring subsidiaries of Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) to file the same reports required in statute that IDAs are required to file. ​The reports, which include information on budgets, procurement, audits and other operations, ​are a fundamental part of the Public Authorities Reform Act of 2005 and 2009 to ensure the state’s hundreds of authorities and their affiliates are transparent and accountable. Unfortunately, even with the legal mandate, many authorities do not submit required reports.

The legal victory by the ABO is the latest in a series of efforts to increase transparency of local authorities. The ABO issued rules in September requiring IDAs post information on their websites on their policies for distributing business subsidies, which was backed by Reinvent Albany.

578 state and local authorities in New York State​ collectively spend $51 billion a year and hold $270 billion in public debt (see page 18). The Authorities Budget Office, with a budget of $1.936 million and 11 staff, has the Herculean task of monitoring and overseeing all state and local authorities. It oversees enormous and important state authorities like the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), New York State Thruway, New York Power Authority, and the Empire State Development Authority as well as myriad Local Development Corporations and Industrial Development Authorities operated by counties, cities and towns.