Report Warns City May Lose $5.2b in 9/11 Aid
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New York City could miss out on as much as $5.2 billion in federal aid earmarked for Lower Manhattan if it doesn’t carefully track the money and compel the federal government to monitor large components of its aid package, according to a city comptroller’s report released yesterday.
The report raises the specter of missed deadlines and insufficient tracking of federal monies earmarked for the redevelopment of the area around the World Trade Center site as two potential pitfalls that stand in the way of the city getting the full $20.8 billion in funding the federal government had promised.
“The potential shortfall is not only worrisome, but would further hold up New York’s recovery,” the comptroller, William Thompson Jr., said in a statement. “It is critically important that appropriate measures be taken to ensure that the city receives the full aid package.”
In the three years since September 11, 2001, New York City has received $11.3 billion in federal aid, or about half the package the federal government pledged after the attacks, according to a report by the comptroller. Most of the aid the city has received so far, about $8.8 billion, has been through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It has distributed funds to help resolve health-related claims filed by workers who participated in the cleanup of the World Trade Center site and helped pay for cleanup costs.
Development projects are where the city risks losing some of the federal money, the report says. “Over the past year, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. has made little progress in developing action plans for the remaining balance” of the unallocated funds, the report says. “The LMDC still has $870 million of these funds unprogrammed. We believe the LMDC approval process has been inadequate.”
Similarly, the comptroller’s report expresses concern about delays in issuing bonds out of the Liberty Bond program over the past three years. The deadline for issuance of the bonds is December 31. There is legislation under consideration in Washington to extend the deadline until the end of 2009. The extension would likely allow developers to take advantage of the $3.42 billion in remaining bonding authority in the program, the report says. The comptroller called on the House and Senate to pass the extension legislation.
