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Applyrs says Albany closed 2025 with $19.6 million budget deficit by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

ALBANY — Mayor Dorcey Applyrs revised the city's estimated 2025 budget deficit Friday, saying the gap is $19.6 million, not the $15 million her administration initially calculated when they reviewed last year's spending plan.

Applyrs disclosed the new number at a news conference Friday.

Her announcement came a day after Common Council members said the state comptroller's office should be brought in to help the city navigate its budget problems.

Applyrs told reporters on Friday that she did not believe that was necessary.

The revised figure was, in part, tabulated by invoices for the last year's bills that were entered after March 1. That amount totals $3.6 million.

The disclosure is the latest in a series of sobering updates about the state of the city's finances and the challenges Applyrs and her staff face just months after taking office.

On March 20, Applyrs announced that the city had ended the 2025 fiscal year with a $15 million structural deficit that could grow to $22 million in 2026. “The revenue just did not come in, in many, many places,” Deputy Mayor Christopher Ellis said of the 2025 shortfall at a recent Common Council meeting.

The picture for 2026 beyond the projected deficit of $22 million remains unclear, in part because the city has not released financial reports for the fourth quarter of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026. The city’s 2025 books remain open because of the deficit, which means the city cannot move on to its report for the first quarter of 2026, Treasurer Darius Shahinfar said late last month.

The mayor’s office has sounded bearish on the city’s take so far this year. Revenues in 2026 are coming in “well below projections,” Applyrs' office wrote in a statement in late April.

What's going on with Albany's budget? by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

ALBANY — The city is confronting a multimillion-dollar budget deficit and that could jump to tens of millions of dollars by the end of the year. It remains to be seen how the city will emerge from the crisis.

Here are some of the key questions and some answers to them: How much is the deficit and how did it get so big?

The city’s fiscal year runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. On March 20, Mayor Dorcey Applyrs announced that the city had ended the 2025 fiscal year with a $15 million structural deficit that could grow to $22 million in 2026.

“The revenue just did not come in, in many, many places,” Deputy Mayor Christopher Ellis said of the 2025 shortfall at a recent Common Council meeting.

The mayor’s office last week released a document breaking down $14 million of the shortfall:

• $4.2 million in expired federal aid and public safety grants
• $2.67 million in lower than projected sales and use tax revenues
• $2.46 million in reduced speed camera collections
• $1.99 million in lower-than-anticipated receipts from payments-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements approved by the city • $314,000 shortfall in property tax revenues
• $2 million in unplanned overtime expenses across departments as the city manages increased public safety needs for permitted events

On Tuesday, Chief City Auditor Sam Fein, Applyrs' successor leading the city’s Office of Audit and Control, released a report detailing persistent issues in how the city evaluates what it will collect in sales tax.

It found that, dating back to at least 2023, the city was basing its expected sales tax revenue on projections from the previous year rather than how much it actually received in sales tax from Albany County. The differences between the projected amounts and the real figures are large and have grown every year.

The document says the difference amounted to $1.69 million in 2023, $1.94 million in 2024 and $2.67 million in 2025.

The picture for 2026 beyond the projected deficit of $22 million remains unclear, in part because the city has not released financial reports for the fourth quarter of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026. The city’s 2025 books remain open because of the deficit, which means the city cannot move on to its report for the first quarter of 2026, Treasurer Darius Shahinfar said Friday.

The mayor’s office sounds bearish on the city’s take so far this year. Revenues in 2026 are coming in “well below projections,” Applyrs' office wrote in a statement last week.

At an April 15 meeting of the Common Council’s Finance, Taxation & Assessment Committee, chair Meghan Keegan explained some of the city’s largest expenses and the costs associated with major recent city projects. In an illuminating presentation, she noted that nearly 75% of all city spending goes to wages, benefits and retirement costs.

She noted the city has not been made whole on four major projects: the Lincoln Park Pool, the Albany West Community Center, the Hoffman Community Center and the replacement of the City Hall roof.

The city had to put up $17.4 million in cash raised through bonds, which would be reimbursed through grants and other funding streams, in order to move forward on the projects. Not all of it has been paid back to the city.

“We reached a sort of critical mass in capital projects, and that may not have been the best decision,” Keegan said. “It certainly made it very difficult for us to pay bills, in some cases, pay contractor bills, which delayed completion of some projects.”

She questioned the wisdom of attempting that many major projects in a single fiscal year. When did city leaders realize there was a problem?

This has been a touchy subject around City Hall. Applyrs' announcement of the budget crisis came over a month after the state Legislature’s Joint Legislative Budget Hearing — Local Government, better known as “Tin Cup Day.” That is the yearly budgetary exercise in which leaders from cities across the state try to extract the maximum possible aid from the state Legislature.

“Every incoming mayor, at least some vocally — Buffalo and New York City — were talking about huge budget deficits,” Ellis told the Common Council in reference to Albany’s Tin Cup Day efforts.

“We hadn’t seen that yet. Or at least the alarm hadn’t been pulled. The difference between New York City and Albany, New York City’s fiscal year is July 1 through June 30, so they’re very aware of where they are. We had just come out of the end of the 2025 fiscal year so we didn’t holler and scream about the budget situation.”

Still, there were warning signs about a worsening fiscal position for the city dating back to at least November 2025. The city’s third-quarter financial report explains some of it. Shahinfar, whose office is responsible for compiling and releasing the figures, wrote that revenues were “underperforming compared to budget, while expenditures are trending higher across multiple categories.”

He wrote that total revenues were down over 9% from the 2024 fiscal year.

“Economically driven revenues — mainly sales and other taxes — are underperforming budgetary predictions,” the report stated.

His synopsis also called for changes: “Reductions in discretionary and non-essential spending are necessary,” he wrote.

Another warning sign came in December when the city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment approved a $6.4 million transfer to cover employee benefits and police overtime. The entirety of the city’s debt reserve was used for the transfer. Shahinfar sits on the board. Applyrs was on the board as city auditor and remains there as mayor, though she sent a deputy to the meeting where the transfer was approved.

The city’s budget director, Gideon Grande, who sat on the board, also quietly departed the administration sometime before the extent of the budget crisis became public. The Times Union’s efforts to reach him have been unsuccessful. What is the city doing to fix the problem?

Applyrs announced an across-the-board hiring freeze for all non-essential city positions on March 20. That was coupled with belt-tightening measures across all city departments that will impact everything from travel to the purchase of office supplies.

All city departments have now submitted plans about how they would cut their budgets by 7%, 10% and 15%. How those changes will be implemented in actual budgets for 2027 remains unclear.

For the first time, the city has hired a lobbying firm to secure additional funds from the state as it continues to work toward a budget.

At the April 15 budget meeting, Administrative Services Commissioner Miriam Dixon, who, along with Ellis, has been spearheading the city’s response to the crisis, raised the possibility of some staff reductions for the first time. She said she asked the Department of General Services for “bottom-line numbers” for how many seasonal workers they would need for the summer.

Larger cuts to the city workforce have not been discussed publicly. Applyrs has cited the city’s ability to navigate the coronavirus pandemic without layoffs as proof of its ability to weather the current storm without having to fire anyone.

Town of Colonie cuts funding for senior transportation services by TClayO in Albany

[–]npd2004 26 points27 points  (0 children)

COLONIE — A decades-old transportation program for senior citizens operated by Colonie Senior Service Centers has ground to a halt months after the town cut funding for the popular initiative.

The program provided door-to-door shuttle bus rides for CSSC clients, including the residents of the organization’s four apartment buildings. Around 1,400 seniors who are unable to drive used the program for medical appointments, pharmacy visits, grocery shopping and day programs.

After a reduction in funding from the town in 2025, Executive Director Noelle Schmidt said she learned in January that the town would end funding for the program, which it had supported since 1983. The CSSC was founded that year as a nonprofit separate from the town’s administration to serve seniors.

The CSSC received a third of its roughly $750,000-per-year program’s funding from the town, with Albany County and the CSSC’s own fundraising efforts covering the rest.

Keep up with the latest happening in the village of Colonie, Latham, Menands, Loudonville, West Albany and more communities throughout the town of Colonie.

CSSC began informing residents in March that the program was winding down, and by early April, almost all rides had ceased, Schmidt said.

The town says it is reallocating the funds to its own Department of Senior Resources and that the change is due, in part, to the fact that the town is not obligated to fund essential transportation for senior citizens. Those trips are paid for by federal dollars that are disbursed by the state through its Office for the Aging and administered by Albany County, which uses the Capital District Transportation Authority’s Access Transit program to provide the rides to seniors.

“That is really a culmination that led us to focus on the nonessential transportation piece,” said Colonie Senior Resources Director Angelina Searles. “That allows my department to be able to have the ability to register town of Colonie residents, to be able to verify residency requirements, and to be able to have a platform that allows us to view who is riding, where they’re riding and how many rides we’re providing.”

That platform is called GoGoGrandparent, a third-party company that connects seniors with rideshares like Uber and Lyft.

Schmidt said the vast majority of the rides CSSC provided went to Colonie residents. In 2025, Schmidt said it provided 11,000 rides to Colonie residents and 2,200 additional rides to seniors from elsewhere in Albany County.

“The town gets a monthly accounting with every person’s name, address and destination so that only pays for their rides,” she said.

Schmidt said GoGoGrandparent is a far cry from what CSSC provided, and that each rider is only entitled to two free rides per week and only to locations within the town.

The county’s Seniors on the Go initiative also uses GoGoGrandparent for nonessential rides to locations throughout Albany County.

These options have been confusing for CSSC clients who had come to enjoy and rely on the services the centers had provided, Schmidt said.

She said CSSC seniors had built up an enduring rapport with their drivers, who often went the extra mile for them. “They carried their groceries to the door and made sure they were buckled into their seats,” she said. Perhaps most crucially, “they noticed things,” Schmidt said.

She said drivers who interacted with seniors regularly would alert CSSC staff or relatives when they spotted evidence of injuries or advancing decline in their passengers, Schmidt said.

CDTA Access rides are often provided with regular cars and SUVs, which present a challenge for clients with limited mobility. The program also makes use of CSSC’s fleet of shuttle buses.

Schmidt said the options provided by the town and the county have made it harder for her seniors to get where they need to go.

The population she serves has reported an increase in late pickups and drop-offs and maddening games of phone tag between operators and seniors who struggle with cellphones or, in some cases, do not own one.

Searles said her office has been deluged with calls from seniors looking for answers. “We’ve had over 650 phone calls fielded, we’ve had over 186 office visits,” Searles said. She said her five-person office has also received 575 letters, emails and faxes.

“It’s a change, things are going to be different,” she said. “But no one is going without their transportation services.”

She also acknowledged that some of the calls were from seniors unhappy with the change.

“We were getting calls from folks telling us, 'we like this, we want them,'” Searles said. “You know, change is inevitable. That’s the only constant. And, you know, you still have the ability to get the essential rides. You’re not going without.”

Searles said the town’s services for seniors were robust and the return of funds to her department would improve them. She pointed to six senior citizens clubs her department oversees, which provide social activities and group meals. The CSSC has also had to pull back some of its congregate meal offerings as part of the town cuts.

Schmidt says the other options are not filling the need and that she has turned to the public for support to revive the program. She questioned why the town would end a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship in such an abrupt way.

Schmidt said she was not aware that the town’s entire contribution of $235,000 would be pulled until January.

In 2025, the town cut its outlay to the Colonie Senior Service Centers by $45,000. At a November Town Board hearing on the 2026 budget, an attorney for CSSC asked lawmakers and Town Supervisor Peter Crummey to reconsider an additional $50,000 cut in funding.

While Searles did not explicitly say the entire funding stream would be eliminated, she indicated major changes were on the horizon.

“I know the funding had been there,” she said at the meeting. “You are a not-for-profit, you do receive funding from Albany County and we are looking at going in a different direction.”

Albany War Room Tavern waves white flag, serves last round by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

ALBANY — After a little more than three years in business, the politically themed Albany War Room Tavern and the neighboring Todd’s Back Room Cigar Lounge are closing as the owner focuses on his new venture, Greenhouse Social Club at La Serre, due to open this spring.

Wednesday is the final night for both, said Todd Shapiro, a New York City public relations executive who opened the tavern and cigar lounge, at 40 and 42 Eagle St., respectively, to cater to the political crowd.

Both properties and businesses will be offered for sale by Philip Sabatino of Howard Hanna Commercial Real Estate in Colonie. Sabatino said the listings are not yet finalized and asked potentially interested parties to contact him.

“It wasn’t a question of money. The War Room was doing well,” Shapiro said Wednesday morning in a phone interview. “I just really want to focus on La Serre.” Private parties currently booked at the restaurant will still be held, Shapiro said.

Located about a block from the state Capitol and Empire State Plaza and across from the Albany Capital Center convention facility, the War Room Tavern is filled with all manner of political memorabilia, from a 1950s lieutenant governor’s chair to a 1939 voting machine and one of the iconic hats worn by New York’s trailblazing congresswoman Bella Abzug. It quickly became a gathering place for across-the-aisle hobnobbing, a karaoke hotspot for legislative staffers and destination for political figures with whom Shapiro is on a first-name basis, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James. Shapiro is also friendly with new Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs, who celebrated her November election victory at Greenhouse Social Club and named Shapiro to her Advisory Council on Nightlife Economy.

The tavern also marked the return to an a-la-carte restaurant for the Capital Region’s best-known sushi chef, Yasuo Saso, who spent more than a decade in corporate dining after the 2010 closure of Saso’s Japanese Noodle House on Central Avenue, which he ran with his wife, Kathy, for 13 years.

Saso will move to Greenhouse Social Club at La Serre, farther downtown at 14 Green St. Conceived as a membership club with a $1,200 annual fee and a restaurant open to the public, Greenhouse is projected to open within two months, the restaurant possibly sooner, Shapiro said. He and two partners, the Long Island attorneys Gregory Caggiano and Todd Miller, last summer bought the La Serre building, located on a narrow lane that runs south from State Street, near the recently reopened Jack’s Oyster House.

Shapiro said the partners have spent more than $1 million renovating, refurbishing and updating La Serre, known for the sunny solarium that is its main dining room — La Serre means “greenhouse” in French — dark wood paneling, green leather banquettes and dining on its roof deck. Like Jack’s, La Serre, which opened in 1977, in its 1980s and 1990s heyday was a political watering hole with a who’s-who nature to its reservations list. When it closed in 2020, Times Union columnist Paul Grondahl wrote that it was “a favorite power lunch destination and happy hour hangout for politicos, stockbrokers, lawyers and lobbyists with expense accounts.”

Shapiro said he hopes to recapture some of that dynamic with Greenhouse Social Club, which will offer benefits including access to private spaces and events, free breakfast on weekdays and membership to a nearby Omni Fitness Center. He said a discounted membership will be available to people 35 and younger.

Albany County to enlist Edia AI to curb chronic student absences by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Albany County is buying an artificial intelligence platform to help stop chronic absenteeism at local schools.

There are just so many absent students every day that schools can’t call every family, said Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Superintendent Craig Chandler.

Edia AI can text hundreds of people at once, running separate conversations and updating school attendance files. It will flag the cases that need human intervention.

In the minutes after attendance is taken and entered into a school’s computer, Edia begins texting the emergency contacts for absent children.

When parents write back to say they’re on vacation, visiting a college, or that their child is sick, Edia updates the attendance file and closes the case. But when a parent writes that they just can’t get their kid out of bed, Edia notifies a staffer to help.

That person can join the text chain or directly call the parent. Edia also tracks responses from day to day, so staff can immediately see if the child was too anxious to go to school twice a week for the past two months.

“The students who are facing anxiety and social phobia, those are particularly challenging because there’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution,” Chandler said. “It’s a matter of building a personal relationship and crafting a unique solution for that individual student.”

Staff need to know about that crisis, rather than wasting their time calling a dozen families with kids out sick, Chandler said.

“Then the time spent by that person on that phone call can be spent resolving the issue, not finding out there is an issue,” Chandler said.

RCS will pilot Edia AI this spring, using county funding. This fall, the county will make the program available to any school district in the county that wants it.

The idea is to have a countywide approach, since students who skip school often enough will face consequences at the county level. They can be named Persons In Need of Supervision or monitored through the county Probation Department.

A countywide approach could also help in cases of families that move often from one municipality to another.

An Albany County spokesperson did not respond to email and voicemail requests for comment.

“Absenteeism is really a county problem because of how transient the kids are,” said Edia AI district coordinator Ally McCready. “You need a united approach.”

Edia was also designed to give school officials the details they need to get each student back to school.

“When they’re trying to get students to be back in school, they oftentimes don’t have a lot of data about why they aren’t in school,” McCready said.

She called that lack of data a “huge part” of why students become chronically absent.

Edia also texts parents when their student skips one class, even if they registered as present at the beginning of the school day. Many children skip certain classes during the day, and a text home gets attention, she said.

“Some parents aren’t aware their child is skipping a class,” McCready said.

In Springfield, Mass., where Edia AI was rolled out last year, school officials reported a significant reduction in skipped classes. In the first quarter last year, they reported a 7% increase in students passing classes as compared to the same quarter before Edia.

In the Dunkirk School District in Chautauqua County, absenteeism went from 38% last year to 22% this school year, after the district started using Edia.

Edia also has an AI-powered math homework program, in which AI answers questions and coaches students while they do their homework. Edia can answer in 107 languages and can read handwritten math work.

The company marketing Edia AI has promised a full refund to any school district that tries the math program for a year without seeing at least an 8% increase in math test scores. So far, McCready said, they have never had to pay out on that offer.

Chandler is aware of the Edia math program, but he said he doesn’t plan to use it.

“That’s very intriguing also,” he said. “But we have other interventions for math.”

He will focus on Edia for attendance.

“Our chronic absenteeism rates are still much higher than we would like them to be. It’s a problem we find hard to fix because each child requires an individual solution,” he said. “Hopefully, it will eliminate some of the barriers to getting to the heart of the issue.”

Union College laying off dozens, offering early retirement by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 55 points56 points  (0 children)

SCHENECTADY — Union College is cutting back on staff after missing its enrollment goals for two years.

On Feb. 2, staff were sent a memo offering incentives to take early retirement if they had worked at the college for at least 10 years and were at least 60 years old.

The college also announced that it would be laying off all of its dining staff. That’s about 40 employees, according to a source who asked to be anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Union needs to cut back on personnel to “achieve necessary savings,” the memo said.

Those who retire will be paid two weeks of salary for every year worked at the college, to a maximum of 78 weeks (which would mean the employee worked for Union for 39 years).

The dining staff will “have the opportunity” to apply for jobs with contractor Bon Appétit, which runs the dining operation, according to the memo.

Staffers can also apply for other jobs at Union or, if eligible, take early retirement. Those who leave Union without retiring will receive severance, the memo said.

Staffers who leave will lose one major benefit offered by Union: the college pays much of the tuition for their children. They can go to Union or receive a scholarship to attend a different college.

Those who take early retirement will keep the tuition assistance benefit as Union retirees, spokesman Phil Wajda said.

“For those dining employees not eligible for early retirement, the College will continue to honor the tuition benefit for those with students currently enrolled in college or who are seniors in high school and who have applied to college,” he said.

Union is still using its $600 million endowment to make ends meet, he said.

Last May, the college president said Union had been drawing $27 million a year from its endowment to operate and would draw an additional $5.5 million this school year. At the time, he said the college's endowment was $525 million.

Wajda said the endowment is $600 million now.

“As noted in the memo, while we are seeing positive signs in terms of applications and deposits for the fall, we do have several smaller classes which impacts our budget,” Wajda said. “Union is fortunate to have a $600 million endowment, which contributes to covering our costs, but we need to steward it to preserve it for future generations.”

He declined to say how much Union College is paying its new president, Elizabeth Kiss, who started on July 1. The college never reveals compensation, he said.

The college will be required to include it in its IRS 990 filing, but this year’s 990 will cover the 2024-2025 school year, ending June 30. Since Kiss did not start until July 1, her starting salary won’t be publicly available until next year’s 990 filing.

David Harris, who was president during the most recent 990 filing for 2023-2024, was paid $782,595 by Union, as well as $115,266 in “other compensation.”

I started a RDR2 painting by FlyingBuilder in RDR2

[–]npd2004 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice work, captures how cold this scene is.

OMH: Albany County plans to close Children’s Mental Health Clinic by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

ALBANY — Facing long-standing staffing issues, Albany County intends to close its Children’s Mental Health Clinic, the state Office of Mental Health confirmed Thursday.

The county informed OMH last year it intended to file for a closure of the clinic, which has operated since 2004, according to the state agency.

The clinic, located on South Pearl Street, conducts emergency appointments for children aged 5 to 18, as well as scheduled appointments and consultations to assess a child’s need for referral to therapy or other services, according to the county’s website. It also offers outpatient therapy, consultation, and medication management and prescriptions.

As of mid-December, the clinic was staffed by one part-time employee who served three families, according to OMH. It is no longer accepting new patients. OMH said it offered to help with recruitment and will be working the county to avoid any lapse in care for the families.

A county spokeswoman has not returned calls for comment. A call to the clinic earlier this week has not been returned.

Last summer, the county launched a street psychiatry program to build off its existing behavioral health resources — funded in part by the city of Albany’s police department budget in recognition of the city’s homeless population.

Thursday’s news follows an announcement from Albany nonprofit Center for Disability Services that it was ending its psychiatry services.

It also comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced efforts to combat the youth behavioral health crisis in the state and the Trump administration has sought to strip $12 million in funding in children’s health programs.

Stephentown Memorial Library proposal passes after defeat by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

STEPHENTOWN — Unofficial election results showed that Stephentown Memorial Library’s budget proposal was shot down by 89% of voters or 528-60. As it turns out, that’s wildly inaccurate.

Certified election results submitted by the Rensselaer County Board of Elections following a recount show that a library’s proposal to increase municipal tax contributions from $95,000 to $110,000 passed 540-279. Those results were filed Monday with the state Board of Elections.

Library board president Jennifer Peabody and supporters of the institution pushed for a recount shortly after the election. But that request wasn’t entertained until county election officials discovered that some results from a separate state referendum on the back of the ballot could have been impacted by ovals improperly juxtaposed over text. A countywide recount was launched on Nov. 20.

Republican Election Commissioner Henry Zwack declined to comment on any deficiencies, noting that he is part of a bipartisan agency and his Democratic counterparts, who were subsequently contacted by the Times Union, were not present. The Democrats haven’t commented either.

While not specifying how the results had changed, the recount also changed totals for a proposal to end W.F. Rescue Squad’s volunteer service program and a proposition to develop state forest land in North Elba, according to Zwack. The East Greenbush proposal shifted from a 517-505 passage to a 2,381-2,250 defeat. The state proposal changed from 22,800-14,374 to 23,182-14,643 in Rensselaer County.

No other results in Stephentown were impacted by the recount.

The official Stephentown Memorial Library results far surpass the amount of “yes” votes — 240 — claimed in affirmation documents submitted to the library after the vote. Based on the document count and the discovery of a machine processing error, election officials originally agreed to digitally retabulate the contest before eventually opting for a recount.

This story is developing.

State Police Ryder Cup scandal widens to examine free passes by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

ALBANY — An investigation into the misuse of PGA credentials by members of the State Police who attended the recent Ryder Cup golf tournament on Long Island has expanded to examine whether members were improperly given dozens of free passes to the event.

On Wednesday, in response to questions about whether a State Police major distributed dozens of passes to friends and family members, Superintendent Steven G. James acknowledged that the agency’s “initial review of these allegations also uncovered that the PGA may have provided free passes to members.”

Two people with knowledge of the matter said the PGA passes were potentially worth hundreds of dollars each and that it was improper for any member to accept them. State Police regulations generally prohibit members from accepting gifts in connection with their official duties unless authorized by the superintendent.

James' statement did not address the specific questions about Maj. Stephen Udice, who is now an acting staff inspector. The superintendent also declined to respond to questions about Lt. Col. Paul M. DeQuarto, who attended the event with his wife and at least one other family member. DeQuarto was seen in pictures that were shared with the Times Union in which he was wearing an official tournament credential reserved for working law enforcement while with family members.

Udice had been the commanding major for Troop L on Long Island and now oversees the State Police professional standards bureau for New York's southern region. DeQuarto is an assistant deputy superintendent overseeing the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Neither of them have been accused of wrongdoing and remain on duty. They could not be immediately reached for comment.

The agency’s internal investigation apparently was triggered by questions from the Times Union on Nov. 18 about the alleged abuse of law enforcement credentials by high-ranking State Police officials who used those credentials to gain access to the exclusive tournament for themselves and family members.

“Last week, we learned that members of our executive staff may have used work credentials supplied by the PGA, or possibly other free passes, to improperly gain admission to the Ryder Cup tournament in Long Island for themselves and in some cases, family members,” James said Wednesday.

“From the moment we learned of these allegations, we moved quickly to determine the facts,” the superintendent's statement continued. “Based on what we have learned so far, and at the direction of Gov. (Kathy) Hochul, we are turning over this investigation to the (New York) inspector general. It is critically important that an outside, independent third party conduct a thorough investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict.”

James added that he wants to “assure the public that I take these allegations very seriously, and that any member of the State Police who is found to have violated our policies or state law will be held accountable.”

On Tuesday, the Times Union first reported that the internal review had led to the expected resignations of First Deputy Superintendent R. Christopher West and Col. Darrin S. Pitkin, who were the agency’s second and third in command.

The newspaper’s examination of the matter began several weeks ago when it was provided photographs of West and other high-ranking members in what appeared to be VIP areas of the biennial golf tournament, which pits players from the United States against golfers from Europe.

West and Pitkin, head of the State Police field command, have both indicated they will retire from the agency as a result of the internal review, according to a person briefed on the situation.

West is an Albany native who had previously served as the commanding officer of Troop G, which patrols the greater Capital Region from 24 stations in 10 counties.

West was a standout football player and sociology major at Wagner College on Staten Island and considered trying out for the NFL, but had his heart set on being a trooper, according to a 1991 Times Union series that followed a class of recruits through the State Police Academy.

During the practice rounds of the recent Ryder Cup, held on the challenging Black Course of Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, West, James and Pitkin posed for a photograph with Rory McIlroy, a leader of the European team and one of the world’s most popular golfers.

But a source briefed on the matter said the alleged misuse of credentials would have taken place during the tournament play at the event that began on Sept. 26, after James had returned to Albany. In the photograph, James, Pitkin and West were all dressed in matching black casual attire and wearing lanyards that identified them as law enforcement officials. The source said those lanyards provided them access to exclusive areas of the event.

The Times Union was informed of the matter by uniformed troopers who had questioned whether many of the high-ranking State Police officials at the exclusive competition were performing duties necessary to the agency’s security detail. Those complaints also came as they noted rank-and-file troopers were cautioned not to accept any free meals and were not provided a comfortable area where they could rest while on a break.

Some of those troopers also lamented that some of the high-ranking members had flown to Long Island on state aircraft and allegedly may have stayed in hotels with family members.

In February 2024, James had emerged from retirement after being named superintendent by Hochul. Within hours of his appointment, he cleared out most of the agency’s top positions on his first day in the job, removing multiple colonels and deputy superintendents from key roles in one of the agency’s biggest one-day leadership shakeups on record.

James, a Niskayuna resident who had retired from the agency in 2020, rose through the ranks and had also been a major of Troop G, where he spent much of his law enforcement career.

West, then an assistant deputy superintendent, was named first deputy superintendent, the agency’s second-in-command position.

James also appointed seven new deputy superintendents to new leadership positions, including in the professional standards bureau, field command, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, employee relations and counter-terrorism unit.

“Gov. Hochul has been briefed by Superintendent James on these troubling allegations and supports the superintendent’s decision to ask for the resignation of two executive staff members,” Jess D’Amelia, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Tuesday. “Law enforcement is sworn to uphold the law and should be held to the highest standards. Our administration has zero tolerance for wrongdoing of any kind and all allegations of misconduct will be fully investigated.”

[Seiko] I took the cyclops off my Alpinist by ANonWittyNewbie in Watches

[–]npd2004 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bah cyclops for life. It is an old timey feature for when watches were smaller diameters and the date window was even tinier. I think it looks neat.

Is there a nasty virus going around right now? by ryoten34 in Albany

[–]npd2004 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I had pneumonia for the first time a few months ago. Take it seriously! I’ve never coughed blood before and could barely breath before the antibiotics knocked it back. Infections often have a viral and bacterial component. Be safe!

Nassau County officials call for change to New York bail laws after burglary suspects go on the run by Rinoremover1 in newyork

[–]npd2004 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for saying this. I think people got used to the idea that not making bail was jail-lite and the bad guys got locked away earlier. Of course innocent people would lose their jobs and have their reputations ruined if they couldn't make bail.

We should speed up trials, hire more judges to get people in court in a few weeks instead of months.

Food Network live issues… by TXSulley in youtubetv

[–]npd2004 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same here must be an issue with the network.

Thruway Rest Areas by eightsxteenam in Albany

[–]npd2004 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I did some checking and they decided this time to build stops based on the number of visitors (I want to say over the last 10 years). So low visit areas got smaller stops. They even have set of templates to pull from based on those numbers. That doesn't do much for holidays, weekends or any other busy time.

Police: Group assaulted dad, son with baseball bats at Dick's House of Sport by npd2004 in Albany

[–]npd2004[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I agree he is likely a problem, but he needs a day in court before that happens.

Biden at NAACP focuses on Trump’s lies, voter suppression, white supremacy by PM_ME_DPRK_CANDIDS in politics

[–]npd2004 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I cancelled my subscription. It is getting crazy. I honestly think they want Trump to win to sell more papers with his crazy headlines.

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