One of Albany's best-kept secrets has just become public, and Cayuga County residents can now see the disparity in member item spending between its five elected state representatives.

Member items in the state Legislature, or funding awarded by individual legislators to nonprofit and community organizations within their district, has for the last several years been kept private. But thanks to Senate Democrats, taxpayers will now be able to see how more of their tax dollars are being spent.

And, using member item breakdowns provided by each of Cayuga County's five state lawmakers, residents can now see how much more discretionary spending is available to a Senate Republican in the majority, than their minority counterparts.

Sen. Michael Nozzolio, the county's only lawmaker in a majority party in either house, was allocated $1.63 million in member item spending - likely more than the county's other four state lawmakers combined.

Last month, state Senate Democrats refused to override Gov. George Pataki's veto of the $200 million allocated for member items unless the spending was made public prior to the vote, specifying each projects sponsor, grant amount and recipient organization. Democrats eventually reached a compromise with Republican majority where the member item spending this year will be made public by May 15 and reached an informal agreement that such spending in subsequent years will be made public in some form prior to the budget being passed.

“If there are organizations that shouldn't be supported or sponsored, then with this information being open and available to the public that just may come to light,” said Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida. “These are taxpayer dollars, they have a right to know where it's spent.”

Of the $200 million for member items in this year's budget, $85 million went to the Senate, $85 million to the Assembly and $30 million to Pataki, according to Tiffany Galvin, a spokeswoman for the state budget office.

Eileen Larrabee, spokeswoman for the state Assembly press office, said the Assembly members put a priority on using their member item money for items that aren't well funded in the budget, like AIDS support programs. Additional member item funding is used for legislators' local projects, which the Democratic-controlled Assembly assesses to determine which projects merit funds.

Though equal amounts go to the Senate and Assembly, there are large disparities between dollar amounts for member items grants for the majority and minority parties in both houses. Edmund McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a project of the conservative Manhattan Institute, said while it's not made public how the funding is distributed, he estimated the Senate Democrats, the minority party, get about 10 to 15 percent of the funding.

For example, Valesky, a member of the Democratic minority party, was awarded $345,000 in member item grants last year. Nozzolio received nearly five times that amount.

Local Assemblymen, all members of the Republican minority party, were also allocated modest amounts. Robert Oaks, R-Macedon, and Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, provided figures for fiscal year 2005 and awarded a handful of grants totaling $135,100 and $80,000, respectively. Gary Finch, R-Springport, provided figures for 2003-05 totaling $180,200 in member item grants.

Nozzolio said while disparities exist, it doesn't mean minority party members can't be resourceful, noting that he had been a long-time member of the minority party as a Republican serving in the Assembly. Nozzolio said he had to fight for member item funding then and continues to fight for it now as a majority party senator.

“Just because you're in the majority doesn't mean you have to fight any less,” Nozzolio said. “We are constantly in competition.”

Nozzolio said his priorities for member item grant recipients include volunteer public safety organizations, non-profits focused on educating children or non-profits supporting seniors with healthcare needs and organizations fostering athletic programs for youth.

His emphasis on youth athletics is apparent in his list, with a handful of Nozzolio's larger grants this past year supporting athletic or community centers, including $65,000 for the Webster Youth Soccer Association, which he has supported in the past. Nozzolio secured $750,000 in state funding - not a member item grant - for the association in 2000 and they subsequently named their indoor soccer facility the Senator Mike Nozzolio Indoor Soccer Complex.

Nozzolio's list also includes many grants for volunteer fire departments, economic development and chamber of commerce organizations and various municipalities.

Discretionary “member item” spending was a concept invented in the late 1970s that, according to McMahon, was intended to further strengthen party leaders, who still have some discretion over how the funds are distributed through their respective houses.

“All members get member items - some get more than others,” McMahon said. Though he added during an election year when a majority party candidate is in danger of losing, “it is widely thought that some get much more than others.”

Prior to 1998, the member item projects were included as line items in individual bills. McMahon said the change came when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver felt that Pataki was vetoing his specific items and didn't want to move forward on the budget without lumping all the items into one general sum to be voted on.

Last month's compromise will again make these member items public, though it has yet to be determined whether they will appear as line items in the budget.

Valesky would support further reform with each project appearing as a line items.

“We are making real progress back to the way it used to be,” Valesky said. “The more open and transparent our state government is, the better off it will function.”

For many of the local legislators, the push to make the member item grant recipients public is not an indication of unethical spending by legislators, but only a step toward better government.

“What we're spending money on, I don't think there's anything wrong with it,” Kolb said, who focused much of his spending on fire and police departments.

Oaks said with full-disclosure of these items, the public would be able to determine for themselves whether each project is a worthwhile expense of taxpayer money. Oaks' funding went toward libraries, public safety entities and two grants, a total of $9,000, for Web site development of the Lake Ontario Sportsfishing Promotion Council.

Valesky's list of grants supported several fire departments, youth programs and cultural events, and also included $10,000 for the Munnsville American Legion Post 54 to construct a building addition.

McMahon, however, said the member item grants are unnecessary and believes the only people who would be legitimately hurt if member item spending were eliminated are the legislators who are able to tout the grants at election time.

“None of this spending is justified,” McMahon said. “(The state budget) is a $113 billion budget, (member items are) just pork to help the legislators.”

Frank Mauro, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said the items do serve a legitimate purpose, however, which is inherent in an executive-legislature government structure. The executive views spending from a statewide perspective - and thus the $113 billion budget is initially set from a statewide perspective - while the legislators see funding needs at the district level, he said.

“There are people from less affluent and more rural areas who feel that the central government isn't addressing their needs,” Mauro said. “The legislators will see, learn about, think about things that should be addressed in their district. Whether everything that gets added to the budget is great, is a different question.”

According to Finch, the member item spending is an effective way to attempt to address some of the disparities in the state budget. For example, he said the current school aid formula favors rich school districts and needs to be reworked. While the member item grants don't correct that, they can make up for it to an extent.

“Many times, money available can offset some of the disparities,” Finch said. Finch's list included several grants for municipalities, public safety entities, $25,000 to Cayuga County for an economic development director position and about $6,000 to the Cortland Chenango Trail Hounds Snowmobile Club.

McMahon questioned why, in a $113 billion budget, the legislators still felt there was not enough money to go around: “$113 billion is more than enough.” Mauro, however, said communities who have benefited from such member item grants may feel differently.

“(Legislators are) people from all the nooks and crannies of the state,” Mauro said. “There are some people who don't think that some of the things that some members add to the budget are great. There are some that are special interest. But for something open to the public, like a library or ambulance service, I think you don't even have those questions. It's not just the ambulance service that benefits, it's the community that benefits from having that ambulance service.”

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net