An often overlooked section of the existing casino cash distribution agreement requires all local entities receiving money to document their expenses each year.
Under the statute, formally known as section 99-h of state finance law, participating entities are to file annual expenditure reports on or before April 1 with the governor, president of the Senate, the speaker of the Assembly, the mayor of Niagara Falls and the head of the Niagara Falls City Council.
A check on the filing of those reports reveals, at best, mixed results.
On March 3, 2009, the city submitted reports with the appropriate offices describing expenditure of funds earned in 2006 and 2007 that were received in 2008.
Niagara County and the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency filed reports with the appropriate offices on March 26.
As for the rest of the partners?
Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center crafted a funding report on March 17, 2009. A copy was delivered to state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, and another is on file with the City Council’s office in Niagara Falls. Checks with officials in the offices of the governor, the state Assembly and Senate suggest their copies were never received, although representatives from those offices were unable to confirm at press time that they were not delivered.
The Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. presented the City Council with an overview of agency spending that included references to its use of casino cash but did not outline specifically where its casino dollars went.
One organization — the Niagara Falls School District — admitted that it has not yet filed any formal expenditure reports.
School Superintendent Cynthia Bianco and new district business manager Tim Hyland said they are still waiting for recommendations on the proper formatting of the documents before they send them along.
Not that there’s any punishment for failing to file.
The statute requires the submission of reports but provides no penalties when an entity doesn’t.
The city is subject to an additional payment of one-half percent per week not to exceed 18 percent of the amount disbursed if it fails to disburse funds to the other entities within 35 days of the receipt of slot machine revenue or the April 1 deadline for submission of expenditure reports by the other entities.
Other than that, casino revenue recipients are basically free to file, or not file, without any real consequences.
Maziarz and state Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewiston, were instrumental in the crafting of the original agreement. They agreed the level of reporting to date has not been sufficient.
“I guess we were counting on good faith, the good faith of these entities to file these reports on a timely basis,” DelMonte said.
Maziarz said there’s really no excuse for failing to file.
“Clearly, it should be tightened up,” Maziarz said. “It doesn’t have to wait until 2016. It could happen today.”
DelMonte agreed.
“There’s an obligation here and they have to fulfill that obligation,” DelMonte said. “That’s not a huge burden on any of these entities to submit a report in a timely fashion in the course of a year.”
Contact reporter Mark Scheer at 282-2311, ext. 2250.
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