Thursday, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced the publication of Effective Management of the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a report which explores how delays and distribution problems have compromised the EPF, an issue which NYLCV has been a staunch supporter of for many years.

The report reveals that delays in using the funding for its intended purposes are partly to blame for nearly 40 percent of the EPF being swept to the state's General Fund, since 1993. Auditors found significant delays in the procedures to award and disburse EPF funding.

EPF programs are intended to offset the costs farmers and municipalities face to meet environmental mandates, support agriculture, tourism and forestry, and help keep New Yorkers healthy as well as protecting New York's water, air and wildlife habitat. 

DiNapoli's report was based on audits of the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Department of State, the Department of Agriculture and Markets, and 10 municipal governments. The auditors identified weaknesses in agency monitoring of projects funded by the EPF.  In many cases, funds awarded sat idle, while qualified project applicants were denied funding.  Auditors also found significant delays in the procedures to award and disburse EPF funds.
 
"When EPF programs work, they work well," DiNapoli said. "The fund has protected some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. But if there are delays in spending fund dollars, the result is dirtier water, fewer parks and a poorer environment. Sweeps and back door borrowing were not part of the plan when the EPF was implemented. State agencies have to do a better job getting EPF money out the door and into the vital projects across New York."