Report: Suffolk spent $570G but never built hangar

Suffolk County spent $570,368 to construct an airplane hangar it never built at Gabreski Airport, then paid another $975,000 to buy an existing hangar there.

Those are among the findings of a report issued Monday by Comptroller Joseph Sawicki. The report, which dates back to 1999, found the county's Public Works Department did not obtain an independent appraisal before buying the existing hangar at the Westhampton Beach airport in December.

County law allows for in-house appraisals only for purchases less than $1 million. Sawicki in his report recommended reducing that figure to $25,000.

Sawicki, who like County Executive Steve Levy is a Republican, said he ultimately supported purchasing the existing hangar because the county's police department needed a permanent location for its East End helicopter operations, and the cost to build a new facility would have been $1.8 million.

"From an efficiency standpoint, this was not government's finest moment," he said.

Chris Kent, Levy's deputy county executive, said he expects to receive a $750,000 state grant toward the hangar. But the county has yet to receive the grant, and Sawicki's report notes that the state has until April 2012 to deliver it, if it does at all. Past pledges of state grants to help fund a county hangar at Gabreski Airport have been made but not delivered.

Kent said $450,000 of the $750,000 grant would go toward paying off the construction debt for the never-built hangar. The other $300,000 would go toward upgrades in the hangar purchased.

Kent said the county made the best decisions it could at the time: "As you go on, circumstances present themselves in the real world and you have to make decisions as circumstances change."

Kent also said a pile of county-purchased steel intended for the proposed hangar remains by the side of a runway at the airport.

"There are going to be efforts now to salvage that metal," Kent said.

Legis. Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), who has long been a critic of the hangar purchase, was less kind.

"This report clearly demonstrates the administration's continued disregard for the laws, policies, and established procedures of Suffolk County," he said. "It also demonstrates the need for the legislature to take a far more active role in oversight of county operations."