Public projects, private funds, some concerns

The cliche "private-public partnership" is gaining more currency in New York. In theory the phrase could mean anything from the United States hiring military consultants in Iraq to a public hospital holding a charity drive. In state and local government, it is jargon for such deals as having a private company build and maintain toll bridges or public buildings.

On Friday, state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) became the latest state player to tout the general concept as a way to fund construction projects amid serious state deficits like the one Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will address publicly Tuesday.

"We should seriously consider public-private partnerships and other financing ideas to leverage money from the private sector - something that Governor Cuomo has also mentioned," Skelos told his Association for a Better New York audience.

Richard T. Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, rose during a question-and-answer period to mention the bi-state Port Authority's move to obtain private financing to rebuild the Goethals Bridge. He inquired about relevant legislation. "I certainly would be supportive of appropriate legislation that way," Skelos replied, "and as I indicated, Governor Cuomo is of the same opinion."

But in a report issued Jan. 10, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned of risks. Given the state's high tax and debt load, these agreements beckon as alternative funding for needed improvements, he said. But the flip side may include: Giving up public assets for too little return; excessive fees or tolls, or gimmicks that provide only short-term fiscal relief.

ACROSS THE DIVIDE?:On one side of the public barricades you have Nassau Interim Finance Authority board member George Marlin. He's a Conservative Party activist, author and commentator on politics and matters Catholic, admirer and once-supporter of the late William F. Buckley Jr. Marlin was recommended for NIFA by ex-Democratic state Sen. Craig Johnson, who cites Marlin's financial expertise. On the opposite side: County Executive Edward P. Mangano's deputy Patrick Foye - also a Conservative, and a friend of Marlin's who graduated a few years behind him from Msgr. McClancy Memorial High School in Queens.

"George was a legendary high school debater," Foye recalls. "I followed in his footsteps at McClancy and have been trying to catch up ever since." They've been friends for some 40 years, Marlin said, and speak frequently.