Lawmakers blast OCA for freezing millions in state aid to Schenectady over court dispute

SCHENECTADY — A Democratic delegation of state legislators slammed the state Office of Court Administration for what one of them described as the agency’s kneecapping of the city and its taxpayers in the protracted dispute over Schenectady’s court facilities and whether to build a new court facility or improve the existing facilities at the police station and City Hall.

State Sen. Pat Fahy and Assemblymen Angelo Santabarbara, Phil Steck and John McDonald III joined forces with Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy and Schenectady County Legislature Chairman Gary Hughes during a Friday afternoon news conference at City Hall to send a resounding message to OCA to back off. Steck and Santabarbara’s districts each cover parts of Schenectady. 

The politicians also announced that they have introduced legislation in the Senate and Assembly that would essentially strip OCA of its power to withhold or reduce state aid from a municipality for failing to comply with the agency’s mandates. The bill would also establish an independent Court Facilities Review panel to review proposed plans and allow that community to plead its case to that entity. It would also create a formal appeals process that would pause any enforcement actions while disputes are being adjudicated.

Fahy, an Albany Democrat, called it a “stunning move” that OCA asked the state Comptroller’s Office to intercept nearly $10.4 million in state aid Schenectady was slated to receive.

The state Comptroller’s Office, at the behest of OCA, recently withheld just over $10.36 million in state monies from the city due to the impasse over court improvements. All told, OCA has told the comptroller to withhold $13.34 million.

OCA oversees the administrative operations of all courts in the Unified Court System, which serves the state’s 62 counties across 13 judicial districts.

McCarthy has previously said the state could take control of the city’s finances sometime in late spring if Schenectady fails to reach a compromise deal with OCA. This could spell financial doom for the city, since it wouldn’t be able to make a bond payment at the end of May or early June.

More: Schenectady showdown with Office of Court Administration could plunge city into financial peril.  

“This intercept, however, is really financially knee-capping the city and the taxpayers, we understand there’s an impasse, we understand the need for a courthouse, but we do not believe this is the way to do it,” said Fahy, adding that “as we peel back the layers, there’s a lot more questions and concerns that come to the forefront.”

She said while Schenectady’s state aid is the only aid currently in limbo, there are other similar impasses that OCA has with the city of Albany, Buffalo and the town of Lackawanna, just south of the city in Erie County.

Fahy said that she and some of her colleagues only recently learned that OCA has the “exclusive authority to establish and enforce minimum standards for municipal court facilities, that the financial burden falls on the municipality, and that OCA has authority to withhold and seize state aid funding to local governments if it determines they are not complying with their wishes.”

On Friday, Al Baker, the OCA spokesman, reiterated in a statement that for the past few weeks the city and OCA representatives have been having “productive discussions to resolve an issue that has languished unacceptably for decades.”

He stated that the law requires that “local governments are responsible for providing suitable and sufficient court facilities throughout the state, but the city of Schenectady for a long time had failed to fulfill its statutory obligations.”

“As a result, the City Court has fallen into increasing disrepair, including heating, cooling, air quality, safety, and security problems,” Baker stated. “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.”   

He did not address Fahy and Steck’s legislation and the potential impact it could have on the agency if it passes muster.     

Steck said he’s introducing the legislation in the Assembly, because when it comes to what OCA is doing to Schenectady, “this is a wrong that has to be corrected” and a case of kritarchy, or rule by judges, “that is insensitive to the needs of the public.” 

He said a proposal to have the city consolidate its two court locations under one roof, at what is now the county office building on State Street, is an expensive project that will take at least four years and requires that the city receive some financial assistance to help cover the cost.

“One of the things that we’ll be looking at, if we need to go down that road, is to get some funding in the state budget for that purpose,” he said. “Again, it is wrong to punish the citizens of Schenectady because of a disagreement between the city and court system.”

Santabarbara, a co-sponsor of the bill to rein in OCA, said “that we’re going to get this bill passed and end this practice.”

“This is a state agency using local state aid as a weapon, holding millions of dollars meant for… police, fire, payroll, basic services for the citizens of Schenectady, all over a facilities dispute,” he said. “That’s not oversight, that’s strong-arming communities. There’s no other way to put it.”

McDonald said while he understands and appreciates that OCA is raising the standards, his issue “is about the fact of who’s picking up the bill.” 

“It cannot be on the back of local taxpayers,” said McDonald, whose district covers all of Cohoes and Rensselaer and parts of Albany and Troy.        

McCarthy said he wants to work with OCA, “but it’s got to be cost-effective.” In the past, he’s described the new court facility OCA wants as palatial and extravagant. 

He cited an example where he proposed, as a cost-saving move, for OCA to move their court officers stationed on the third floor of City Hall — where the courtroom is situated — down to the first floor, where the city currently has retired police officers posted to screen people entering the building.

McCarthy claims OCA declined to take him up on the idea. He said the agency told him that they only guard the City Court judges. 

Schenectady County Legislature Chair Gary Hughes said that the county is in the process of relocating its office building on State Street to the former Lottery Building on Broadway a few blocks away. The city would then renovate and hold court in the State Street site.  

“The city and the county are ready to work together on that, we have a memorandum of understanding to do that, but we don’t have a financial plan and we don’t have the time that we need to do the re-engineering, the renovation that needs to happen at 620 State St., and we certainly don’t need a gun pointed at our heads from the Office of Court administration, saying, 'do it yesterday.'”