A New York state task force overseeing the implementation of public authorities reform legislation is looking at how the New York City Industrial Development Agency conducts its business.
Speaking before the IDA board yesterday, the task force’s chairman, Ira Millstein said he did not understand how the agency carries out its work.
“If I can’t understand it, I don’t know what the public is going to do because it really is a little bit arcane,” Millstein said. “You have a lot of little things going on here which I think would be helpful if we could explain why they are the way they are.”
Gov. David Paterson appointed Millstein, a senior partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, to chair the seven-member task force, which he created by executive order following the passage late last year of the Public Authorities Reform Act. The task force begins writing its report next month, which must be completed by Aug. 15.
Public authorities like the IDA have grown in piecemeal fashion over time. The task force wanted to understand how it worked with the New York City Economic Development Corp. and other affiliated local development corporations.
Millstein said he was neither criticizing nor investigating the agency, noting that he is tasked with understanding how authorities work, how they can be made more efficient and whether different authorities should be consolidated.
IDA chairman Seth Pinsky said the agency was “happy to work with him.”
The task force will examine around 10 public authorities, including the Empire State Development Corp., the New York State Thruway Authority, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and the Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency.
Millstein’s visit came as the IDA announced it was projecting multimillion operating deficits through fiscal 2014. The agency’s current-year deficit of $4.3 million is expected to rise to $7.6 million in fiscal 2011, according to budget documents.
The city IDA generates revenue from financial transactions, including bond deals. It expects to end the fiscal year with an estimated $39.2 million fund balance, which is projected to shrink to $17.6 million by fiscal 2014.
