DiNapoli report finds minimal financial information on ESD subsidiaries

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has released a profile of the Empire State Development Corp. (ESDC) that found “minimal” financial information for many of its 168 subsidiaries.

The same report also found “limited” public reporting on results of economic-development initiatives around the state.

That’s according to a news release DiNapoli’s office issued on Thursday.

Empire State Development is New York’s primary economic-development agency.

This report is part of the comptroller’s efforts to “promote transparency” on government spending, including how agencies use funds for state and local economic-development programs, his office said.

The analysis also examines ESDC’s revenues, expenditures, debt, procurement and employment, as well as accountability and transparency in its operations.

DiNapoli’s office is currently auditing ESDC’s oversight of the vendor responsible for promoting certain state economic-development programs.

“New York state spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to spur economic development and job creation through ESDC programs,” DiNapoli said in the news release. “New Yorkers deserve more thorough accounting about whether these programs are achieving desired results.”

ESDC has created more than 200 subsidiary corporations and other entities since its founding in 1968 as the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).

Recent audits have found that ESDC “did not adequately” oversee the status of many of its subsidiaries and “rarely dissolved” such entities once they had achieved their purpose, DiNapoli’s office said.

It currently lists 168 subsidiaries, which represents 73 percent of all public-authority subsidiaries.

In addition, ESDC in fiscal year 2013 reported that its programs helped create more than 2,400 jobs, a figure representing about 1.8 percent of net private-sector job creation in the state during the year, DiNapoli’s office said.

But the authority makes “little public assessment” of whether its programs work effectively together or create well-paying jobs, DiNapoli contends.

The report suggests developing more detailed and consistent public reporting for each program.

ESDC reported 290 full-time and part-time employees at various locations, with total annual compensation of nearly $21 million.

As of fiscal year 2014, nearly 57 percent of ESDC’s reported employees were classified in a management role and 23 percent of those employees earned total compensation of $100,000 or more.

ESDC has main offices in Albany, Buffalo and New York City in addition to 10 regional offices statewide. ESDC operated additional offices in the United Kingdom, Israel, and South Africa in 2014.

It also listed additional offices in China, Canada, and Mexico on its website as of last month.

DiNapoli’s office based the report on data that ESDC submitted to the office primarily through the public authorities reporting-information system (or PARIS).

ESDC self-reports the information and numbers, DiNapoli’s office said.