Suffolk, Huntington Hospital give up $1.4M in fed funds

WASHINGTON - Suffolk County and Huntington Hospital gave up a total of $1.4 million in earmarked federal transit funds when they failed to meet application deadlines, according to a government-watchdog report issued Tuesday.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) earmarked $495,000 for Huntington Hospital in 2006 and $922,944 for Suffolk County in 2007, but both forfeited the money, according to interviews and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

That money is now up for grabs as part of two new federal bus and bus facility programs, funded by unused earmarks and other transit funding nationally.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation disclosed the fund forfeiture in a report that found unused earmarked federal transit funds from 2006 and 2007 totaled $15.8 million in New York and $120 million nationally.

"It shows the perils of the earmarking game," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "In some cases in which communities couldn't use the money, it was not of as much interest to them as it was to the lawmaker who put out the press release on the earmark."

Israel said he tries to help Island groups get their "fair share of federal funding" and help them navigate the bureaucracy.

"Federal funds come with strict rules, deadlines and matching fund requirements," Israel said, adding, "Sometimes it is not the best source of funding for a project."

The disclosure that the two Long Island agencies turned away federal money comes as state and local officials are navigating shrunken tax revenues and tightened budgets.

Huntington Hospital spokeswoman Theresa Jacobellis said the hospital asked Israel for the $495,000 earmark in 2004 to help pay for a proposed parking garage that would cost $5 million to $8 million.

The Transportation Department approved the funding in 2006 but said it had to go through the Town of Huntington and had to be used for a public, not private, parking structure, Jacobellis said.

Israel negotiated with DOT but it didn't waive rules. It wasn't until mid-2008 that the town and hospital focused on the final September deadline. "By the time the town was made aware of the grant, the hospital told us it had already decided not to proceed with it," said town spokesman A.J. Carter.

"I don't even think we went down that road," said Jacobellis. "We just knew we wouldn't be able to meet the deadline."

The hospital didn't build a garage. "There is a regret when you're not able to use the money," Jacobellis said. "But you have to weigh all the different aspects of any kind of fundraising situation."

Meanwhile, Suffolk County blames the Town of Babylon for failing to follow through on the $922,944 earmark in 2007.

"We helped the town with paperwork to initiate it," said Gilbert Anderson, Suffolk County's public works commissioner. "Beyond that, it was really the town's project."

He said the project was a Wyandanch facility to allow transferring cargo from trains into trucks to save travel into the area. A town spokesman did not respond to queries.