Viewpoint: New York public authorities oversight improving
Ira M. Millstein and Scott N. Fein
Feb. 21, 2021
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As we seek to put our economy back on track, attention has turned to public authorities. These little-known and even less-understood entities have for more than 50 years backstopped government when taxes and revenue fall short.
With the capacity to borrow from banks and capital markets, public authorities, used in the thousands throughout our nation and most industrialized countries, help sustain vital government functions including the provision of public housing, and hospitals, transportation, electric power, schools, and environmental safeguards. Some have described them as the government’s ATM and others characterize their use as the Hail Mary play when fiscal disaster looms.