More Corporate Welfare in Saratoga County?
By Upstate Blue, Section News
Posted on Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 06:55:28 PM EST
A Saratogian article from two weeks ago reveals that the Saratoga County government is re-examining lease arrangements for various departments, including the Department of Motor Vehicles and the local State Supreme Court justices.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
Rentals include two Department of Motor Vehicles offices in the Wilton Mall - $57,000 a year in rent - and Clifton Park Center Mall - $31,700 a year in rent. The County rents two offices for State Supreme Court justices Stephen Ferradino and Frank B. Williams at about $36,000 each annually. Ferradino's offices are part of the Stewart's Ice Cream Co. offices on Route 9 in Malta while Williams' chambers are above Putnam Market in a building owned by former city GOP chairman J. Thomas Roohan. Roohan is charging the county $21.99 per square foot a month, a figure that increases by 3 percent each year, according to county records. "It's a negotiation between us and the county," Roohan said. "They wanted it to include maintenance and utilities, so we put that in."Unsurprisingly, most of these offices currently seem to be located at sites whose beneficiaries have strong ties to the Saratoga County Republican Party.
The Clifton Park Center Mall, where one of the DMV offices is located, is owned by DCG Development of Clifton Park, who NY elections filings show has given $1,370 to Saratoga Republicans since August 2006.
Stewart?s, where Justice Ferradino?s offices are located, has contributed $990 to Saratoga Republicans since January of 2006.
Also noted in the article, Justice Williams's office is located in the Roohan Building in downtown Saratoga Springs. The Roohan family is known to have a very close working relationship with Saratoga County Republicans, as real estate developer J. Thomas Roohan was the former Saratoga Springs City GOP chairman, and Roohan?s first cousin, Stephen Towne, was the former Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Accounts and now serves as business manager of the Roohan Real Estate Office.
Big question - If there is currently not enough room to house all of the functions of the Saratoga County government on the Ballston Spa campus, shouldn?t these offices be put out to bid? Why should taxpayer money be going towards greasing the major patrons of Saratoga County?s Republican Machine? (I?m sure they could have found lower priced office space than the $21.99 per square foot that former Saratoga City GOP chair Roohan is charging right in the middle of Downtown Saratoga.)
On the up side, at least it's good to see that the county is finally ?reconsidering? these lease arrangements?
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Related Links
+ two weeks ago+ NY elections filings
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