— — A state senator is calling for an audit of the low-cost power and cash used in the last seven years by Niagara County entities that have shared in the benefits of the 50-year relicensing agreement with the New York Power Authority.

During a meeting of the Niagara Power Coalition on Thursday, state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, called on members of the group to conduct an audit to determine what happened to the “millions upon millions” in low-cost hydropower and settlement money that has been delivered to Niagara County, the city of Niagara Falls, the towns of Lewiston and Niagara and three area school districts since 2007 when the federal government gave the power authority a new license to operate the power project in Lewiston.

Maziarz said he believes both a financial and procedural audit is in order and suggested the goal should be to determine what level of benefits the host communities have derived from the settlement with an emphasis on the number of jobs created.

“I think the people of Niagara County should know how we’ve done in the past seven years with those millions of dollars that have come into this community,” Maziarz said.

The power coalition consists of representatives from the seven municipalities and school districts that negotiated the settlement agreement with the authority. Each of those entities share in the allocation of a minimum of 25 megawatts of low-cost hydroelectric power from the Lewiston project as well as at least $5 million per year in direct payments as part of a host communities fund. Another $3 million is set aside annually in support of projects tied to the development of the Niagara River Greenway.

Maziarz said he was not aware of any specific instances in which either low-cost power or cash payments received by the host communities had been misused and said his call for the audit was not intended to suggest that has been the case. Rather, he said, the idea is to determine, with some certainty, if the power and the money has been as beneficial to the host communities as elected officials hoped it would be when the settlement was negotiated back in 2005. He added that he’s concerned a good deal of the money was used to cover hefty legal fees charged by attorneys hired by the NPC and its members. He also singled out New York State Parks, saying he wants to know what it did with its share of the revenue it receives as a result of the settlement.

“The money has been spent and I’m sure it’s been spent on a lot of positive things, but I think it should be a performance audit too,” Maziarz said. “What have we gotten? What have the people of Niagara County gotten for all of that hydropower, for all of those community payments?”

The senator’s request for an audit follows a Dec. 13 letter from New York Power Authority Senior Licensing Specialist Rob Daly who asked members of the coalition to compile information on how settlement commitments are benefiting host communities. Daly’s letter notes the provision of the settlement covering hydropower allocation offers each coalition member flexibility in how it is used, noting that the proceeds from the sale of the power can be applied to reduce energy costs and undertake energy related projects for the entities involved.

“Obtaining an amount for this benefit will quantitatively address the savings provided to your residents by your portion of the 28 (megawatts),” Daly wrote.

In addition, Daly suggested in his letter that it would “informative” to identify how the proceeds from the host communities fund have been used to date.

“We would like to know the projects that have been undertaken by NPC members with the host communities fund proceeds and the benefits of those projects to your community,” Daly wrote.

NPC members agreed on Thursday to compile information on their entities’ use of low-cost power and cash since the settlement went into effect in an effort to comply with the request from the power authority. NPC Chairman and Niagara County lawmaker William Ross said the group’s legal team would collect those reports and forward them to the power authority as requested.

As for a full audit, Ross noted that a committee is in the process of finding an outside auditor to review the allocation of greenway dollars to date. He noted that the protocols for the organization require only an audit of greenway funds, not the use of hydropower or direct cash payments. Ross said the group is not necessarily opposed to looking at the other areas but would need to come to a consensus on how to proceed with such a review. He indicated that the issue would be discussed in greater detail at the NPC’s next meeting.

“We are following the protocols,” Ross said.