Payback Is Here: New Yorkers Can Look Forward To A 2007 Refund

With officials noting an expected tax hike for Long Island residents in 2007, many New York taxpayers can actually expect a refund in the New Year.

According to reports, State Comptroller, Alan Hevesi has agreed to give bad New York’s taxpayer nearly $207,000 in restitution after coming to an agreed upon settlement with the state Attorney general’s office recently with regard to reimbursing them for chauffer services he secured for his sick wife.

Also, due to payments previously made, the State Comptroller will be held accountable for giving the state only $33, 604 over a 10-day span. They note he’s already given back over $82,000 after his “misappropriation of funds was revealed, plus, he’s put aside another $90,000 in escrow as per the request of the attorney general’s office.

State Comptroller Hevesi’s office, according to reports, kept a minimum account of records regarding the services secured for his wife, but investigators come up with a figure based on “computer logins, e-mails and swipe cards, as well as checking her appointment book.

However, the lack of data kept by Hevesi raises many questions and concerns about his intentions and is at the center of his criminal investigation.

Investigators in the attorney general’s office determined that beginning as early as January 2003; the State Comptroller has as many as four employees who spent time assigned to his wife, one of which was assigned to full-time duty by the spring of 2005.

This limo driver became the subject of an ethics report that suggested that Mr. Hevesi violated state law when he failed to give back monies he’d “borrowed” from the state for services that lasted longer than three years. While the State Comptroller noted that the employee in question was a threat deterrent for his wife, reports questioned the truth of the statement and such risks noting that the individual in question has no security training. But, Mr. Hevesi is sticking to his story, and suggests that better record keeping would have cleared his reputation and the amount of monies owed.

In the meanwhile, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the governor-elect has deemed Mr. Hevesi’s ethical problems as making him unfit to serve. And, a grand jury has been having weekly meetings in Albany to review evidence for Mr. Hevesi in regards to a potential criminal indictment. The investigation is expected t wrap by the end of the year.