Audit Discloses Abuses Involving SUNY Foundation
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ALBANY – An audit and tax return released yesterday shed light on the research funding arm of the State University of New York through which SUNY officials received funding beyond their publicly reported compensation and the top five employees pulled down six figure salaries.
State Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s audit found the State University of New York Foundation gave two college presidents – including the current interim SUNY chancellor – an extra housing allowance, and gave a million dollar contract to a politically connected lobbyist without requiring how it was spent. The audit also said the foundation paid the tuition for a SUNY employee’s child to attend an out-of-state school, and found that millions of dollars was spent on “questionable purchases.”
The independent nonprofit foundation -which has long refused to detail how it operates or pays its executives to help SUNY campuses – also violated state fiscal accountability rules, Mr. Hevesi said. He said the foundation circumvented competitive bidding practices designed to ensure sound spending of public money.
“This is highly inappropriate and it is unfair to the students and faculty on all SUNY campuses and indeed to all New Yorkers,” said Mr. Hevesi.
The foundation is funded by private grants and its own investment income. Its mission is to advance SUNY and fund research.
SUNY Foundation spokesman Cathy Kaszluga agreed yesterday to release the 2003 fiscal year tax returns of the foundation, which for the first time revealed much of how the foundation operates.
The return shows that SUNY interim chancellor, John Ryan, had been paid $71,700 through the foundation as a director in at least 2003. Mr. Ryan was also paid directly by SUNY at the time as president of the SUNY Maritime College, a position that pays about $175,000 a year. As of June 1, Mr. Ryan is paid $340,000 a year as interim chancellor, replacing Robert King who resigned to take a $206,000-a-year job as an interim president at SUNY Potsdam. He will continue that salary indefinitely as a university professor under an agreement with the SUNY board.
Three other foundation directors and officers in 2003 were paid between $108,347 and $159,729 in 2003, according to the tax return. The five highest employees were paid a total of $1.26 million, including Alain Kaloyeros who was paid $338,317 as the foundation’s full-time “principal investigator.”
