The city comptroller’s office rebuked the Economic Development Corporation in an audit released yesterday, accusing the group of lax oversight that has led to unsafe conditions and costly damage at one of its properties, a marina and parking facility off the East River.

Comptroller William Thompson Jr. said the property has badly deteriorated under its lease to Skyports Inc.

“The Economic Development Corporation’s inadequate oversight of this lease may have jeopardized public safety, placed the City at financial risk, and may cost the City upwards of $5.5 million or more,” he said in a press release that described him as “irate.” Mr. Thompson is considered a likely candidate for mayor in 2009.

The president of the Economic Development Corporation, Seth Pinsky, denied that there is a safety risk at the site. Skyports is responsible for maintenance under the lease, he said, but the EDC has conducted its own repairs anyway. In the meantime, the EDC is working with the city’s law department to protect taxpayers from the cost of additional repairs, he said.

“We’ve undertaken a number of studies of the garage’s condition despite that it is not something that’s required of us,” Mr. Pinsky said. “Where we identified a public safety issue, we corrected it.”