Try transparency
Public money means public accountability. Why doesn’t the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation seem to get that?
It’s a simple idea, but it’s one that many people seem to have a hard time understanding: Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent.
The Saratoga Economic Development Corporation, for example, is unhappy that it has to comply with the Public Authorities Accountability Act. In December, a state appeals court reversed a lower court’s decision and ruled that the SEDC — which receives taxpayer funding from the county and the Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency — must indeed report to the state what it’s doing with the public’s money. It must also take other pesky and bothersome steps like responding to Freedom of Information Law requests (gasp!) and complying with Open Meetings Law (the horror!).
This is far from the first time the SEDC has tried to go its own way. The group has been fighting accountability requirements for more than 15 years. A decade ago, the SEDC lost its county money for a time after it refused to allow elected county officials to sit on its board. Saratoga County cut ties and formed its own development arm, the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership, with a pledge of greater transparency. But the new group ended up costing the county millions with pretty much zilch to show for it. And a plan to merge the two entities was marked by bitter squabbling, including accusations from SEDC that Prosperity Partnership had hacked into its private Zoom meetings. County development officials also toyed with an idea of forming a new entity that would have been exempt from state Authorities Budget Office oversight and FOIL transparency.
Why such fear of accountability? John Munter Jr., the current chair of the SEDC board, frets that complying with disclosure rules would limit the board’s ability to drive development and make deals. Sorry, we don’t buy it. Other county and municipal development engines are somehow able to juggle their development work and their state reporting requirements; we’re confident that SEDC can find a way do the same.
SEDC should drop its plans to appeal the court’s ruling and acknowledge the obvious: If your business involves the people’s money, it’s the people’s business, too.
Sudden change in Ballston
The town of Ballston website notes: “Our community celebrates its farming and rural heritage by preserving open space and carefully managing growth.” That “celebration” may be taking a different shape in the future after Ballston Supervisor Eric Connolly announced last week that he was disbanding the town’s Farmland Protection and Preservation Committee. In its place, he’s seeking members for a new committee with a narrower focus on purchasing development rights and open space.
This was news to the people on the farmland committee, who remain puzzled about why this happened, and why the two panels couldn’t have worked in tandem. Farmland and open space aren’t the same thing, after all, and the mothballed committee offered other services to farmers that the new one doesn’t. And the town, it seems, will lose the experience of the current committee members.
Especially in a town that’s seen rapid growth, questions about development and preservation touch on issues of local identity and stir up strong responses. Changes in direction work better when they come with public input.
A flurry of political finger-pointing followed Mr. Connolly’s announcement, which is another reason surprise changes rarely comport with good governance. Democracy may be messier, but it usually comes wrapped in less drama.