ALBANY - Syracuse University will pay a $5,000 fine for giving a public official tickets to a basketball game and filing incorrect lobbying reports under an agreement approved Wednesday by the state Lobbying Commission.

The school reported that it gave four tickets valued at $16.50 each to the official in January or February 2002, but a state audit found the tickets should have been valued at $20 each for a total value of $80.

Under state law, lobbyists cannot give gifts worth more than $75 to public officials.

While Lobbying Commission officials would not say who the official was, commission records show four tickets valued at $16.50 each were given to Republican state Sen. James Seward of Oneonta.

Duncan Davie, a spokesman for Seward, a member of the Senate's Higher Education Committee, said he was not aware of the tickets being given to the senator or of an investigation.

Kevin Morrow, a spokesman for the university, said the tickets were first valued at $16.50 because that was their face value as season tickets.

Lobbying Commission officials, however, said the tickets should have been valued at the single game price.

"This was a question of the value of the tickets," he said. "We were happy to reach an amicable agreement.

Lobbying Commission spokesman Kris Thompson said the university was "extremely cooperative" in the investigation.

"This is as minor a transgression as we would be interested in," said David Grandeau, the commission's executive director.