The city of Schenectady could lose more than $13 million in state funding as a result of having inadequate court facilities. That's because current state law says cities that do not abide by the Office of Court Administration's court facility compliance rules risk losing state funding. Schenectady is currently negotiating with the OCA to keep its funding. But Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy, a Democrat, calls the OCA's funding control problematic.
“OCA, can make the determination, and then the city has to pay for it.” said McCarthy. “I don't do that with like fire department or police department. There has to be some negotiation where you're going through the expenditure of public funds.”
Capital Region state lawmakers say they agree with McCarthy. Standing in the Schenectady City Hall rotunda Friday, the legislators explained that the court administration office is often seen as uncooperative. Lawmakers say this is the main reason why they introduced legislation aiming to strip OCA of its power to withhold funding.
Democratic Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara, of Rotterdam, says the solutions OCA gives for bringing court facilities up to compliance do not always have the needs of a city in mind.
“It means less money to the fire department, less police patrols, sanitation work, people that work at City Hall, that make the city function, they don't know if their paychecks are going to clear,” said Santabarbara. “It is devastating, and they know this. They know this going in, and they made a decision anyway, and that's what has to stop. This bill restores balance and fairness.”
The proposed legislation would create an independent court facility review panel. Two members of the panel would be elected by state senators and assemblymembers. The panel would also create an appeals process for cities to negotiate with the OCA.
State Sen. Patricia Fahy, a Democrat representing the 46th District, says the bill would facilitate better communication between the OCA and cities throughout the state.
“We think there's got to be a better process, which is what we are proposing in this legislation, to have a process where it's a true two-way negotiation,” said Fahy. “In the meantime, we are all saying, restore those funds. It is wrong to intercept monies that we in the legislature authorized last spring in the in the state budget.”
Schenectady has been aware of its non-compliant court facilities for some time. As previously reported by WAMC, a July 22, 2013, letter addressed to now fourth-term Mayor Gary McCarthy said the city “lacks an appropriate size courtroom for the criminal caseload.” It also said 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.
WAMC has also previously reported that in 2023, McCarthy was sent another letter, which again requested the city develop and submit a plan to update its facilities. The city currently holds criminal court at the police station and civil and traffic court in City Hall.
In an email to WAMC about Schenectady’s court facilities, OCA wrote Friday that the city of Schenectady has failed to meet court standards for a long time. They wrote, “The OCA has simply been seeking to ensure that the public has safe, clean, functioning courthouses that can accommodate the delivery of high-quality justice in a timely manner.”
Santabarbara says this issue goes beyond the city of Schenectady.
“This can happen to anybody, anywhere in the state of New York, and it's been happening. There are communities that have been strong armed. They've been forced to do unreasonable things, and it has cost the taxpayers,” said Santabarbara. “It has hurt residents, and in this case, withholding critical state aid is just plain wrong. This is the nuclear option.”
