In the wake of the bitter 7th State Senate race in which Jack Martins defeated Democratic incumbent Craig Johnson, the Democratic majority in the state Senate rescinded $8 million in grant money that had been committed by Johnson for a wide variety of projects to villages and school districts in the senatorial district, according to Martins.
“The senate majority, knowing they had lost the majority, pulled the $8 million in funds to the 7th Senate district,” Martins said.
In many cases, the grant money was anticipated as reimbursement for projects completed and paid for by the respective municipalities and school districts. Included was work for the Town of North Hempstead, the Village of East Williston, the East Williston School District, the Herricks School District, the Village of Williston Park, the Village of Saddle Rock and the Village of New Hyde Park.
Martins said the grants were rescinded shortly after his razor-thin election victory was certified in state appellate court in early. And he said the $8 million was subsequently redistributed to districts in which Democratic state senators had won reelection.
“It certainly wasn’t to save money,” Martins said.
Martins won election after a protracted court fight, with Johnson and the Democrats seeking a full recount of the 85,000 votes cast that produced a 451-vote margin of victory for Martins.
The $8 million in unfulfilled grant funding included $3.75 million pledged to the Town of North Hempstead.
“The politics shouldn’t get in the way,” Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman. “The bottom line is it shouldn’t matter who did what and when. We’re asking the state to follow up and go through with the commitments.”
Kaiman said he has conferred with Martins on the withdrawn grants, which he confirmed amounted to between $3.5 million and $4 million, and said he will follow up with members of the Assembly and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He said in all cases, the town does not do work on the respective grant projects until the contracts with the relevant state agencies are consummated.
The town received notification by letter about the grant commitments – some dating back to 2009 – that were not going to be honored last week.
“Some of these are a couple of years old. To take those away is just incredible,” Kaiman said.
Martins said he is doing what he can to follow through on financial commitments made in his district, but the current state fiscal crisis makes that a difficult mission.
“It is our hope that we can track the monies that were withdrawn and restore some of these grants that were left unfunded,” he said.
But an essential problem with tracking the unfulfilled grants is that Martins said that Johnson trashed the records of the grants he had on file in his office.
“My understanding is that the documents have been discarded,” Martins said.
One source said that Johnson may have been exceeding his ability to deliver on his financial pledges in providing numerous grants to fire departments in the district that have never been delivered.
“He was doling out money like candy. And now we’re hearing that a lot of grant money wasn’t even there,” the source said.
Efforts to reach Johnson were unavailing. A source said that Governor David Paterson had interceded to delay expenditures for projects already approved by the Dormitory Authority of New York State – a source for many capital improvement projects – and the state Department of Health.
Martins said, “It’s not an unusual amount of money. It’s the rollback that’s the issue.”
He is compiling information about the unfunded grants from all parties who have been affected, as part of his effort to recover some of the money that was promised.
Travis Proulx, a spokesman for the Senate Democratic Conference said, “Given the need to bring government spending under control and a looming $10 billion deficit, if funds are not approved and in use at the time their sponsor departs the Legislature, those grants end. Taxpayers want and expect accountability and this is the best way of ensuring they get their money’s worth. Senator Martins, as a member of the Republican Majority, will determine how capital funding is spent during the next fiscal year and which projects are a priority for him.”
A legislature source said the Senate Democrats took a post-election decision for the first time because of the state budget crisis to reconsider all grants offered through Democrats who hads retired or had lost their seats. The source said that grants already approved by the Dormitory Authority of New York State – one of the prime sources – remained secure.
The source said that the unallocated funds had not been redistributed as Martins asserted.
Village and school officials are concerned – and in some cases incensed – that the legislature did not honor Johnson’s commitments.
East Williston Mayor Nancy Zolezzi said the village is still in limbo on two grants it had been told it would receive, one for $100,000 on the refurbished library in the new East Williston Village Hall, and $150,000 for the East Williston Fire Department. The village did receive $100,000 for the village hall construction project, according to Zolezzi, who credited Trustee Michael Braito for his persistence in securing that money.
“We were doing work and it was great. There villages that went ahead and did the work and they were left in the lurch. I think it’s unconscionable,” she said.
The East Williston School District is awaiting $450,000 in grants pledged by Johnson, according to East Williston School Superintendent Lorna Lewis.
The district spent $150,000 for renovating the North Side School playground and the running track at The Wheatley School. It also spent $100,000 to repair the parking lot at the Willets Road School. Two of the three projects had to be completed before the district could receive the state funding.
“They were health and safety issues. We had to do the work anyway,” Lewis said.
Saddle Rock Mayor Leonard Smolensky said that he received a call from Johnson in November 2009 asking if the village could use $100,000. Smolensky said yes, and the village went ahead with a project to repair its sea wall.
He said he called Johnson last November to ask about the money, and Johnson said he had paperwork from the state dormitory authority indicating the grant was approved. He received a copy of the letter from Johnson, but still never saw the money.
“I wouldn’t have gone ahead with it if we hadn’t gotten the money. It’s happened before, it’ll happen again,” Smolenski said.
But in this case, the mayor said the work needed to be done anyway.
“The sea wall was over fifty years old. There were houses in danger,” he said.
The Village of New Hyde Park received two grants through Johnson to renovate the William Gill Theater in its village hall. It received one of the grants for $100,000, but has been informed that a second grant for $150,000 may not be received. Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro said the village has sought Martins assistant in recovering the money.
“The truth is this is more of a political funding for votes. I think we’re caught in the middle of a political crossfire here,” Mayor Daniel Pertuccio said at last week’s village board meeting.
The Village of Williston Park has been anticipating a $100,000 grant reimbursement for street repairs it made last summer. But Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar is still hopeful that the village will be reimbursed.
“We didn’t get a rescind letter, which is a good thing,” Ehrbar said.
But the state legislative source said the fact that rescind letters had not been sent out did not necessarily mean that the funds would be forthcoming.
The Mineola School District was anticipating grants of $150,00 and $100,000 through Johnson from the state dormitory authority for equipment in its high school and middle school science labs, according to Jack Waters, district superintendent for finance & operations.
“We were told, and other schools were told, that Sen Johnson had secured these type of grants,” Waters said.
He said the district subsequently submitted a detailed explanation of the equipment it planned to buy. Soon after Johnson lost to Martins, the district was notified that the $150,000 grant had been rescinded.
“The timing wasn’t too obvious,” said Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler with a note of sarcasm.
Nagler and Waters are still hopeful that the $100,000 grant will be received.
The Herricks School District was expecting reimbursement of $150,000 from the state dormitory authority for work it had completed to refurbish the facade of the Herricks Community Center, according to Helen Costigan, Herricks assistant superintendent for business. The project was part of a larger $7.9 million bond project for capital improvements to buildings in the district.
For projects funded through the dormitory authority, the work must be completed and then the municipality or school district applies for reimbursement.
Herricks has not proceeded on a second project for a $100,000 grant secured through for computer and cable TV equipment because it’s never received confirmation from the dormitory authority.
“I guess it could be rescinded at any time,” Costigan said.
