Ogdensburg fears prison closure

Gov. David A. Paterson's 2010-11 budget includes a proposal to close a medium- security state prison in Ogdensburg by April 2011.

"This is terrible news - definitely for the north country and definitely for Ogdensburg," said city Mayor William D. Nelson. "This is a work force in the north country already reeling from the closure of General Motors and reductions at Alcoa and other facilities. ... When you add state jobs into that mix, it's devastating."

The prison employs 287 workers has a payroll of about $22,290,000 annually.

"I'm not happy in the least about this decision," said Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, who represents Ogdensburg.

Last month, the St. Lawrence County Legislature formed a committee to start looking at how expected budget cuts will affect state prisons. The committee's task now has become more urgent.

“These are high-paying jobs,” county Administrator Karen St. Hilaire said. “We cannot absorb any more cuts of this kind.”

Ms. St. Hilaire said she will be talking with state leaders and the governor's office this afternoon to inform them of how the closure will impact the area.

"We understand that not everyone lives in Ogdensburg," said City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra. "Regardless, it's a tremendous loss to the north country at a time when we can't afford it, that will hurt our businesses, and the people that might shop in Ogdensburg."

Mr. Sciorra said the city may receive less state aid if the prison were to close, because inmates are partially included in populations that used to dictate aid.

Ogdensburg City School District Superintendent Timothy M. Vernsey said the closure would also create a "trickle down effect" that would be felt in his district.

"As employees relocate for work, it negatively affects our enrollment numbers, which, in turn, affects the amount of state aid the district will receive," he said. "Eliminating a major employer in an already stressed community is devastating news."

The mayor concluded: "It's a real slap in the face of the hard working people of the north country."

Ogdensburg City Councilor Michael B. Powers is a state corrections officer who worked, until recently, at the Riverview Correctional Facility. He said Tuesday that if Ogdensburg Correctional closes, his hopes of coming back to the area will be shot.

“If they close Ogdensburg, I might as well start looking for another place to live. I don't need a closure, I need guys to retire,” he said. “In any rank you take, your first appointments are down south of Albany, and whenever you take a promotion, you start the wheel all over again.”

Ogdensburg is one of four prisons targeted for closure by the governor. The others are minimum-security prisons in Clinton and Wayne counties and a shock facility in Essex County.

"Once the (four) closures are completed, the workforce will have been reduced by 637 staff, including 17 managerial staff," the budget document states. The savings for the next fiscal year is $7 million. It is $52 million for the following year.

St. Lawrence County Executive Director Raymond Fountain said he didn't understand the governor's rationale.

"We're one of the highest unemployment areas in New York state, and three of the four were North Country counties that will be affected by foreclosures," he said. "We were counties that welcomed the prisons because of the jobs, back several years ago when there were a lot of prisons and areas that were fighting this. I don't know how they made the selections, but it isn't good for St. Lawrence county."

Mrs. Russell said there were still opportunities for the Department of Correctional Services to cut costs and be more efficient in the Watertown hub without closing Ogdensburg Correctional, including reducing administrative costs, sharing professional services for treating prisoner health and rethinking its procurement strategy.

“I'm going to be doing my own research,” the assemblywoman said, adding that she was scheduling meetings with facility officials and union representatives “so I can speak from a first person perspective about the facility.”

"I have every reason to believe that my advocacy on behalf of Ogdensburg will be effective," she added.

Mrs. Russell said the governor should also consider more cuts outside the prison system.

“Before we start devastating communities by closing prisons, we need to be focusing on administration in Albany,” he said. “There's an entire building here with hundreds of employees.”

Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, was also troubled by the news, saying in a statement: "The proposal to close correctional facilities at Ogdensburg, Moriah and Lyon Mountain next year is a serious concern for the employees of the facility, their families and those of us in these communities who will feel the effect on the local economy. I agree we need to rein in government spending, but I believe in these tough economic times we need to put our energy into efforts that will create jobs for our community.”

See Wednesday's Watertown Daily Times for more information.