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NEWS ANALYSIS
Public Authority Flush With Cash Building $18 Million Shelter, $4.3 Million Office Renovation, $580,000 Immersive Theater
By Tina Traster
Those who keep tabs on government spending typically monitor village, town, county and school budgets. Maybe even the library.
But if you’re concerned about rising taxes or excessive spending, add Rockland Green (former Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority) to the list. Rockland Green is raiding the taxpayer piggybank, spending at an alarming pace on everything from animal management to new projects you’ve probably never heard of. Legal fees to defend lawsuits are ballooning, change-orders for the proposed animal shelter have already added $200,000 to the $18 million budget, the quasi-public authority is undertaking a $4.3 million upgrade for its offices at 172 Main Street in Nanuet, and it’s spending $580,000 to build an “immersive” theater in the basement of its headquarters.
While Rockland Green has bonded $18 million for the shelter project, the public authority is tapping into a $36 million surplus to pay for a raft of improvement projects at its headquarters. Budget watchers are asking why the public will be taxed to pay interest as high as 6.25 percent and principal totaling in excess of $40 million for the shelter over 30 years when the public authority has such deep pockets.
Led by Chairman Howard Phillips, who is also the Town Supervisor of the Town of Haverstraw, Rockland Green’s foray into animal management is incurring ongoing costs as the public authority continues its protracted lawsuit with Hi Tor Animal Shelter.
Rockland Green sued Hi Tor in May 2024, claiming the animal shelter breached a contract with the tax-funded public authority. In turn, Hi Tor countersued, saying it was Rockland Green that breached the two-year contract because it terminated without notice or an opportunity to cure any deficiencies, and not the other way around.
Rockland Green’s legal budget rose exponentially between 2022 and 2023 from $2.2 million to $4 million, partially due to its takeover of animal management in the county. For 2024, Rockland Green projected $3.1 million in legal fees but the final numbers came in at $4.1 million.
And legal fees will continue to climb as the Rockland Green v. Hi Tor case heats up.
Eighteen months in, Rockland Green and Hi Tor are deep in depositions, with more to go. Justice Thomas Zugibe of Rockland County Supreme Court last week set a compliance conference for Aug. 22, even though lawyers on both sides said more time was needed for depositions. In the meantime, Rockland Green inexplicably sends both in-house counsel Lawrence Garvey and outside counsel Lee Apotheker of The West Group in White Plains to attend hearings in court and to depositions, racking up hours of attorneys’ fees. There have been nearly a dozen day-long depositions taken to date or scheduled, with some spread over more than one day. Attorney Apotheker, who is the brother of Jeremy Apotheker, Rockland Green’s Coordinator, Special Projects, has not entered a formal appearance in the court, meaning he’s not counsel of record in the litigation.
In another costly maneuver, Rockland Green is picking up the legal fees for representation for depositions for Nixie Gueits and Michael Sanducci, who run Four Legs Good, and are not employed by Rockland Green. Both Gueits and Sanducci will likely be questioned about their role in Rockland Green’s termination of its contract with Hi Tor. But what raises questions is why the taxpayer-funded Rockland Green is paying legal fees for two private individuals who are neither employees of Rockland Green nor were under the aegis of Rockland Green at the time of the contract breach.
RCBJ Sues Rockland Green For FOIL Violations
Rockland Green is also fighting a second legal battle against Rockland County Business Journal (RCBJ), which sued the public authority last month for failing to provide public documents requested by FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) more than nine months ago. RCBJ has been seeking documents that explain why Rockland Green chose O’Connor Company, a Pinehurst, North Carolina firm, to build the $18 million animal shelter on Ecology Road in the Village of West Haverstraw. O’Connor was neither the lowest bidder, nor had previously built an animal shelter.
RCBJ’s counsel, Michael Martin Linhorst, of the Cornell University First Amendment Law Clinic says, “Rockland Green, in violation of FOIL, spent months refusing to provide records. First, it slow-walked its response, repeatedly changing its own deadline for production. Then, it attempted to charge an exorbitant fee before allowing RCBJ to see the documents. Finally, after it abandoned both gambits in the face of RCBJ’s appeals, Rockland Green unlawfully withheld numerous documents and improperly redacted others.”
If RCBJ prevails, Rockland Green will be on the hook for attorney’s fees.
Unknown & Rising Animal Shelter Costs
Rockland Green is in the process converting an empty warehouse at 10 Ecology Road (aka 427 Beach Road) built on “spec” and purchased by taxpayers for $3.8 million into a 28,000 square foot shelter, seven times the size of the existing one. Taxpayers also paid for renting the facility in 2023 for $225,000 before any construction began. That rental was not applied to the purchase price.
Building costs related to the animal shelter are on the rise, with six change orders already approved, and construction barely underway. The change orders, ranging from extending the depth of the elevator pit by six inches ($5,465) to installing “unforeseen” vapor barriers ($14,940) to new drainage pipes and rigid insulation board ($94,178) and foundation repairs ($14,792) among others have already racked up more than $200,000 in additional costs.
Similarly, Rockland Green’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Hillburn, which was bonded for $35 million with taxpayer money, required more than 175 “change orders” or increases to the bottom line. Change orders increased some contracts by 15 percent or more, and in one case by over $1 million.
Taxpayers will be on the hook to foot the bill to pay both principal and interest on the animal shelter bond over the next thirty years. The bond is a 30-year “Special Obligation” bond with a face value of $18 million that carries a 5.5 percent interest rate for about $9 million of the issue, and 6.25 percent for $9 million that matures in 2049 and 2054. The bonds are rated Aa3, a high rating with a low credit risk because taxpayers guarantee its repayment.
On top of debt service payments, Rockland taxpayers in each town except Orangetown (which contracts with the Hudson Valley Humane Society) will be taxed for the cost of operating the new shelter.
In 2023, Rockland Green imposed a $1.4 million tax levy on residents to support the shelter operation. In 2024, the levy rose to $1.6 million, and then to $1.8 million, a 28.5 percent increase over three years. This year’s annual operating expenses rose to $2.5 million. Rockland Green expects a 5 percent annual increase in the shelter’s operating expenses but the costs of running and staffing the 28,000 square-foot facility will likely exceed those projections.
The new animal shelter will house up to 120 dogs, 226 cats, and 213 exotics (including 60 guinea pigs, 108 rabbits, and 45 avian/reptiles.) It’s slated to include a veterinary surgical center, an indoor exercise track, cat congregant rooms and indoor play areas, adoption and quarantine rooms, multiple offices and conference rooms, a staff lounge and a large walk-in freezer. Rockland Green Executive Director Jerry Damiani said at the authority’s July meeting that the Pomona shelter was currently housing 280 cats, a number that both exceeds the capacity of the shelter in Pomona and exceeds the planned capacity of the new shelter in West Haverstraw.
Rockland Green operates on a $90 million annual budget, taxing residents roughly $21 million in 2024. The voting board of the authority includes five town supervisors, two village mayors, seven county legislators and a representative from County Executive Ed Day’s office. Phillips has held the chairmanship for more than a decade.
On a Spree: Office Renovations, An Immersive Theater, New Property
In addition to the animal shelter costs, Rockland Green recently awarded a $4.4 million contract, the lower of two bids, to Pierotti Corp. to renovate its administrative headquarters in Nanuet. While Rockland Green employs roughly 35 people, less than half work in the administrative office.
Renovations include a new first floor lobby, an entrance with an ADA ramp, painting the exterior brick façade, new emergency exit ramp on the North side of the building, new nine-inch by thirty-two digital sign to promote programs and events, installation of new emergency generator. Also, the tab includes $4.4 million for new lighting, a new ADA accessible restroom, miscellaneous doors and matching hardware, new interior finishes, flooring, walls, and ceilings, installation of sound absorbing material, new fire alarm panel and associated heat and smoke heads, and a new kitchenette. Second-floor amenities include a new conference room, two new offices, new lighting, new interior finishes, floor, walls and ceiling, new kitchenette.
The renovation includes a roof replacement with solar panels on its headquarters, which was purchased in 2020 for $1.5 million.
On top of that, Rockland Green will spend $580,000 to construct an immersive theater experience in the basement of its headquarters.
And Rockland Green recently bought two parcels adjacent to its West Nyack solid waste operations from Ecklecko, the owner of the Palisades Center for $1.3 million.
