Audit cites irregular spending at SUNY

Comptroller lists 'inappropriate' expenditures by foundation
Yancey RoyAlbany bureau
(June 10, 2005) — ALBANY — The State University of New York's Research Foundation made questionable expenditures — such as paying tuition for a SUNY employee's child to attend an out-of-state college and providing extra housing allowances to college presidents — according to an audit released Thursday by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
The audit found that the foundation made millions of dollars of purchases without competitive bidding and paid $1.3 million to the lobbying firm of Bill Paxon, a former Republican congressman from Amherst, Erie County, even though it wasn't clear what the firm did for SUNY.
The audit covered an 18-month period ending Dec. 31, 2003. The foundation is an arm of SUNY that administers gifts and grants.
Hevesi called the foundation's practices "highly inappropriate and unfair to the students and faculty on all SUNY campuses — and indeed to all New Yorkers."
Foundation officials disagreed. "We believe that the expenditures singled out in the report were all in support of the university's mission," said spokeswoman Cathy Kaszluga.

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