ALBANY, N.Y. — An Assembly committee says the agency that oversees more than 700 public authorities in New York needs statutory authority to impose fines on the quasi-public entities that fail to report their borrowing, bonus payments or other activities.
In a report Monday, the Committee on Corporations, Commissions and Authorities says more than 100 authorities are essentially defunct and hundreds more are duplicative and should be shuttered.
The report urges applying technical analysis and common sense, noting a recent “disturbing trend” by local governments in establishing not-for-profit organizations that assert they aren’t subject to the oversight.
Committee Chairman Richard Brodsky says reform under the Authorities Budget Office has begun.