Tagged: thomas dinapoli

A small startup based in Albany has managed to help some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities protect and promote their own online images.

And New York State is banking on the company's success - by investing in it through the state pension fund.

More tax breaks does not equal more jobs.

That's according to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's latest report on New York's industrial development agencies (IDAs).

In his fifth report on IDAs [PDF], DiNapoli says the number of jobs created by the local economic development engines dropped by 22,000 from the year before.

DiNapoli also cites a $483 million gap in what IDAs gave out in tax breaks and how much they took in via payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOTs).

That breaks down, the report finds, to a $2,659 cost per job - up 9 percent from the year before.

"Taxpayers are not getting enough bang for their buck when it comes to IDAs," DiNapoli said in a statement.

The State Comptroller’s office has released a harshly-worded audit of the state Office for Technology (OFT), slamming the agency for favoritism and conflicts-of-interest in the awarding of state contracts.

Auditors say the abuses were, “flagrant, significant, and not well-hidden.”

OFT is responsible for handling the state government’s IT services.

Much of the audit focuses on OFT’s former deputy chief information officer, Rico Singleton, who’s accused of mishandling a state contract with the computer security company, McAfee, and wasting $1.5 million in taxpayer funds.

This is the first in a series of reports by the Innovation Trail taking a closer look at New York State's industrial development agencies, or IDAs. 

Ask just about any politician these days, and he'll likely tell you that a big part of his job is to create jobs.

So how does the government attempt to do that?

Here in New York, industrial development agencies (IDAs) are one of main job creation mechanisms for local communities.

In 2009, IDAs gave away close to half a billion dollars in tax breaks to companies in the name of economic development.

IDAs are known as "public benefit corporations" - they're supposed to help their local communities, and create jobs.

But in their four decades of existence, they've been accused of everything from failing to comply with state laws, to simply being inefficient.

Under a reform proposal from Governor Andrew Cuomo, employees hired by New York State in the future would receive pensions that are much smaller than those brought home by current state retirees.

The idea's been endorsed by pro-business groups, but labor leaders are decrying it.

To recap: The row is over the retirement benefits of people who haven't been hired yet - and it's shaping up to be quite a fight.