As Schenectady city officials engage in ongoing budget negotiations, New York state is set to pull funding that could amount to more than $13 million due to what it says are inadequate court facilities.
City Council President Marion Porterfield said she found out that the state is threatening to withhold funding when the Albany Times Union reported on it this week.
“I did not know it had gotten to this point,” Porterfield said.
New York’s Chief Administrative Judge has directed the state comptroller’s office to withhold its next state aid payment scheduled for December.
Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the state comptroller, said the office will be following that directive – meaning the city is set to lose its next payment and could continue losing payments until $13.3 million has been withheld.
Johnson, said he doesn’t know exactly how much December’s deduction will be.
According to the state’s Office of Court Administration, the Electric City has failed to properly respond to multiple notifications about the deficiencies of the courtroom facilities.
Al Baker, a spokesperson for OCA, says the facilities are “woefully inadequate.”
According to paperwork from the OCA, which is the administrative arm of the Unified Court System, the issue has spanned decades. A January 15th, 2002, letter addressed to then-Mayor Albert Jurczynski, says Schenectady submitted a consolidation plan in 1996 that it never followed through on.
A July 22, 2013, letter addressed to now fourth-term Mayor Gary McCarthy said the criminal division “lacks an appropriate size courtroom for the criminal caseload” and the civil division “lacks a dedicated courtroom for the handling of traffic matters.”
The letter was sent by Gail Prudenti – then-Chair of the New York State Court Facilities Capital Review Board.
In 2023, another letter was sent to McCarthy, which again requested that the city develop and submit a plan.
The city currently holds court proceedings in two locations – criminal court at the police station and civil and traffic court in City Hall.
Porterfield says McCarthy did not share OCA’s concerns or letters with the council since she first became a member in 2012.
“I can speak for me personally, I’ve never been made aware of that and the mayor has never brought that to the council as a concern or matter of discussion,” Porterfield says.
Porterfield, however, says she does recall discussions about plans for a “courtroom of some type.”
“But the OCA said that wasn’t sufficient and so those plans, as I understand it, came to a halt. They wanted a consolidated building where all the judges could be at one time, all together,” Porterfield said.
McCarthy has not responded to a request for comment.
Now, Baker, with the OCA, says because of the “city’s ongoing inaction,” and “lack of meaningful response,” the Unified Court System has no choice but to level sanctions against Schenectady “to prompt efforts to finally improve these increasingly insufficient conditions.”
This comes as the Schenectady City Council is working to finalize a budget for next year. Earlier this month, McCarthy proposed a $120 million spending plan that represents a 3.17 percent – or nearly $4 million – increase over last year’s budget.
The proposal also includes a property tax rate increase - $15.77 per $1,000 of assessed value – and a garbage collection fees increase.
Council President Porterfield says the loss of the state funding would be detrimental.
“I asked the Corporation Counsel about it because I did have a concern and so she said she doesn’t think its going to happen and that the mayor is working on it. I also am having it brought up for discussion at our committee meeting on Monday to say what is this impact going to be if this possibility happens,” Porterfield said.
