MAYVILLE – The Jamestown Post-Journal is reporting this morning that millions of dollars have been lost by Chautauqua County due to risky investment and questionable management decisions. Today’s article is based on a scathing report released Tuesday by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
According to the report, the county lost nearly $600,000 in revenue after two Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency bonds “failed to meet expected returns” through October 2011. A half-million dollars was lost in interest revenue and $94,000 was lost in property taxes in those projects. Another $3.6 million in direct payments is also owed to the count.
The report primarily focuses on loans given to businesses in both the Stoneman Business Park in Busti and the Chadwick Bay Industrial Park in the town of Sheridan. Auditors found that payments from the businesses in these spec buildings did not cover the required annual IDA debt payments. The audit shows the first bond defaulted, causing the county to lose $1.8 million in its fund balance; the county also lost $94,500 in outstanding property taxes.
County Executive Greg Edwards has come out and defended the local IDA, saying the report does not convey the millions of dollars in additional construction and nearly 200 jobs that has been brought into the county. Edwards also criticized the audit report, saying it focuses too much in information from over ten years ago, when neither he nor current IDA director Bill Daly were in office. He says in more recent times, both jobs and revenue have come out of the two parks.
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