CRAWFORD – At the Town of Crawford Town Board Meeting on March 19, Supervisor Charles Carnes announced that $250,000 which had been promised to the town by Albany had not yet been paid. The money came through DASNY (Dormitory Authority State of New York) and it had been secured for Crawford through the efforts of State Senator Bill Larkin.

DASNY provides financing and construction services to a variety of public institutions, beginning with public and private universities, but including not-for-profit healthcare facilities and other similar public services.

"It was $100,000 towards the cost of the new highway garage," said Carnes, "plus $100,000 for the DeWitt well and $50,000 for downtown redevelopment projects."

Typically, the way this practice works is that with the promise of such money in hand, towns generally spend that money and then go to Albany for reimbursement.

"I had to spend the money," said Carnes, "because I had to send in the receipts. That's the way this works. So, we submitted all the paperwork they told us we had to complete, and they told us everything was fine and the money would be coming. But as of this moment, we haven't received a thing."

So what's happened?

Supervisor Carnes said, "I believe it's politics. The Democrats in Albany are holding this up, for whatever political reasons, that they haven't shared with me. I think it's wrong, it's not the way to conduct business."

Carnes is also clear about another point. "This is not pork money. There's nothing pork in this."

Senator Larkin's office in Albany said that they have put a call in to DASNY, but haven't heard back yet. Senator Larkin says that "It isn't fair to the groups that were funded this way to have their money suddenly held up or taken away by the state. There should be a commitment by the Governor and the leaders of the House and Senate to preserve those monies in the upcoming budget."

Taxpayers in the Town of Crawford will be watching what happens on that score over the budget period now begun.

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