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# PortAuthorityFundingUnderScrutiny LegislatorsSeek to ShineLightonPotof MoneySpentonProjectsFarAfield By HEATHER HADDON July 10, 2014 12:01 a.m. ET

For more than three decades, the PortAuthority of New York and New Jersey has spent hundreds ofmillions ofdollars on projects that have little to do with its mission, paying for museums, parks and even a clam-processing plant. The money has flowed on both sides ofthe Hudson River, helping governors and the agency build projects-and goodwill-in communities. Now, New Jersey lawmakers are planning to shine a light on a source ofthatfunding, a pot of funds known collectivelywithin the agency as the "regional banks."

Port Authority Projects

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will end the bank funds. 

### As the PortAuthority's operations come under intense scrutiny after the George Washington Bridge scandal, some lawmakers are calling for abolishing the regional-banks spending. They say the agency should focus on its own assets in dire need of repair, such as the PortAuthority Bus Terminal, and overcrowded airports. "Every motorist paying tolls to cross the Hudson is being charged an extra $2 per ride to payfor these grants while needed infrastructure improvements go wanting," New Jersey Sen. Ray Lesniak, a Democrat, said in a recent letter to the Port's executive director advocating forthe funds' end. On Thursday, at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Mr. Lesniaksaid he intends to question Republican Gov. Chris Christie's nominee to lead the PortAuthority's board, former state Attorney General John Degnan, aboutwhether he

Others have criticized the use ofthe funds. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer of NewYork has http://online.\NSj.com/articles/port-authority-funding-under-scrutiny.1404964881#printMode 1/37/10/2014 PortAuthorityFunding Under Scrutiny- WSJ questioned whythe states weren't paying for some ofthe projects funded through the Port Authority bank through their own budgets. Some Port Authority officials have begun to agree and internal talks are underway aboutwhether to abolish them, senior agency officials said. The agency's capital plan running through 2023 authorizes $942 million in regional funds, out ofa total $27.6 billion budget, butthey have yetto be authorized by the Port Authority board. In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Christie said a Port Authority reform panel is reviewing the structure ofthe agency, including if it "can better conform with its core mission." The biggest PortAuthority projectto come under scrutiny is the rebuilding ofthe Pulaski Skyway, the 31/2-mile bridge connecting Newark to Jersey City over the Hackensack and Passaic rivers. Manhattan prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether the use of$1.8 billion in tax-exempt bonds originally procured to build a rail transittunnel underthe Hudson Riverwere improperly tapped bythe Christie administration to repairthe Pulaski Skyway bridge, according to several people familiar with the investigation. Spokeswomen forthe SEC and the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to cornrnent on the investigation. The Record has previously reported the Pulaski investigation. A PortAuthority spokesman said the Pulaski Skyway was analyzed and negotiated by lawyers on all sides, and outside legal counsel provides opinions on all ofthe agency's bonds. A summary of New Jersey expenditures from 1983 to 2008 showed that a total of$337.5 million in funds had been allocated to 36 projects, according to an internal memo reviewed byTheWall StreetJournal. According to the list, the projects included $12 million for Stevens Institute ofTechnology, a private college in Hoboken; $19 million for Civic Square, a building in New Brunswick; $900,000 for the city of South Amboy, N.J.; $5 million to Jersey City Medical Center; and at least

### $4 million for Independence Park, a Newark space run by EssexCounty. The documentalso listed $1.3 million for a "clam depuration plant," an investment in the Sandy Hook Bay thatspeeds upthe process ofpurifying shellfish from contamination. Another $25 million was given to loan guarantees by the New Jersey Economic DevelopmentAuthority, which provides financing and tax incentives to businesses. One ofthe largestshares offunds wentto road work in New Jersey, including morethan $92 million to improvethe old Route 169 highway-now Route 440-that runs along Bayonne. A comparable list of New York projects wasn't available. Recipients saythe moneywas spentwisely. A spokesman for Jersey City Medical Centersaid the funding was helpful in establishing a regional trauma center that serves PortAuthority facilities in the region and they have not received any additional agency grants since at least 2004. http://online.\r\/Sj.com/artides/port-authority-funding-under-scrutiny-1404964881#printMode 2137/10/2014 Port AuthorityFunding Under Scruliny- VI/SJ Such spending began in 1983, when the governors of New York and New Jersey pushed the Port Authority to support programs deemed essential to the region's economy. The Bank for Regional Developmentwas established with an estimated $250 million in capital funds, with 55% going to New Jersey and the rest to New York. The regional bank has come to include avariety of other spending accounts, including the "Hudson Raritan Estuary Resource Program" for both New York and New Jersey, an accountfor environmental land acquisitions, and accounts for economic development, among others. A list of individual projects hasn'ttypically been disclosed by the PortAuthority, although the total amount of regional-bank funds spent are generally reported in the agency's capital plan. -Ted Mann contributed to this article. Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsi.corn

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