ALBANY -- The Senate on Tuesday unveiled $218 million in capital projects, providing funds for private companies, local authorities and previously undisclosed big-ticket expenses such as a music center at Skidmore College and a semiconductor plant in Saratoga County.
The items, some of which were labeled by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer as "a horrendous thing to look at ... dripping with fat," include $4 million for Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno's alma mater, Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, and $6 million for a semiconductor training center at Hudson Valley Community College, also in Bruno's district.
The Skidmore project is supposed to be the subject of a news conference Friday involving the Arthur Zankel Music Center, a campus concert facility now under construction, with Bruno speaking, a Skidmore spokesman said. No one would provide details Tuesday.
Also, the semiconductor plant at the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority's property in Saratoga County appeared to be set for a future announcement, although it may be related to a neighboring site for Advanced Micro Devices, one lawmaker said.
The projects amount to about $218 million of the $350 million the Senate can spend at its discretion. None of the projects are for Democrats' programs, said Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, who complained the list was dropped on the Senate minority by surprise and passed in three seconds without many members knowing what happened.
"What's the process? What's the review? Why?" she asked.
A spokesman for the Senate GOP did not return a call.
The remaining funds likely will be the subject of another resolution later this session, a Senate aide said. In a news release, Bruno called the grants "smart investments" but did not spell out what the money is being used for.
The Assembly released a list of $244 million worth of projects on April 9, and also did not clarify what the recipients will do with the funds. The Assembly has $350 million of its own to spend on capital projects.
The Assembly list includes matching funds for a few of the same projects as the Senate. For instance, there's $1.7 million for the Hotel Syracuse and $10 million for the proposed Marcy nanocenter site development, which also show up on the Senate list.
The Senate list includes sums as small as $500,000 for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Albany Medical Center and Albany College of Pharmacy, and as large as $12.5 million for a Hofstra University Medical School building.
The money is part of a total $1.2 billion in the budget for projects desired by the Senate and Assembly majorities and Gov. David Paterson. Paterson has not revealed all his projects yet.
"This is basically capital pork," said E.J. McMahon, director of the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center for New York State Policy. He said the money would be better used to shore up multibillion-dollar gaps in the state's plans for highways, bridges and mass transit.
The Senate set up money for several private companies. GE would get $3 million for a digital medical X-ray equipment manufacturing plant, a project at the Rensselaer Technology Park touted by Bruno. The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Buffalo would get a total of $1.7 million.
New Process Gear in Syracuse gets $5 million, on top of grants in previous years and $13 million from the Assembly. Rochester Institute of Technology is in line for $10 million for its Golisano Institute for Sustainability.
Other businesses on the list include WNYC Public Radio, which is in line for $2 million for a state-of-the-art radio communications operation, and YMCA of Greater Rochester, which is to get $1.5 million.