State budget office cites Riverhead for missed deadlines on financial documents 

Riverhead’s Community Development Agency was listed in a new state budget office report as being among 143 agencies in New York that have not turned in financial documents required by state transparency laws.

The agency, which administers and secures financing for downtown development and is responsible for economic development and workforce housing functions in Riverhead, was also among 77 authorities statewide that have not submitted either the annual audit or budget reports required for fiscal year 2019 as of Feb. 3, according to a Feb. 4 report from the New York State Authorities Budget Office.

The budget office — an independent office whose mission statement is to make public authorities more accountable and transparent — uses the information from these reports and posts them to an Open Data NY portal, said Jeffrey H. Pearlman, director of the budget office. The portal allows citizens to view and research data from authorities statewide on topics such as how authorities spend money on projects, including giving tax exemptions.

State authorities must send their budget reports 90 days before the fiscal year begins, but local authorities must file those reports 60 days prior, according to budget office officials. Riverhead's report was due on Nov. 1, and its annual and audit reports were due months earlier, on March 31.

The budget report was available on Riverhead’s website, Dawn Thomas, director of the Riverhead CDA, said Friday. Regarding the delay in sending the required documents, Thomas said the costs for the town agency conducting a separate audit would have been expensive. Town accountants and auditors decided to do the agency’s audit at the same time the town completed its own audit, which was done recently.

“As we move forward, we’re going to make sure that we’re in compliance and doing everything we need to do,” Thomas said. “Our financial reporting does get delayed because of the auditing cycle that the town works off, but we do everything that we’re supposed to, we file everything we’re supposed to file and we’re continuing to improve our compliance with the Public Authorities Accountability Act.”

Pearlman said Friday that the Authorities Budget Office could issue stronger penalties if the listed authorities don’t submit the required reports. Penalties include censuring authorities, essentially a public rebuking that would make it harder for agencies to apply for funding; suspending board members of authorities delinquent for more than three years; and asking state courts to dissolve the authorities.