St. Lawrence County Legislature's chairman says he feels the New York Power Authority is charging appropriate rent on lands the Comptroller says they are undercharging private entites to use. NYPA was scolded today for leasing lands a rates significantly below market value.

The Comptroller cites the Massena Country Club, the St. Lawrence Yacht Club, the Twin Brooks Golf Course and St. Lawrence University as paying less than 10 percent of what their rent actually should be. In one case, St. Lawrence University is paying nothing to lease land for a boat house.

"From the county perspective the justification for the Massena Country Club and other parcels to be leased at present rates is helping to alleviate the permanent loss of land in our area that was needed to complete the St. Lawrence FDR power project," county legislature chair Jonathan Putney said in a statement. "It is understood that we won’t be getting the land that is now underwater back so we certainly shouldn’t be losing any of the benefits that are meant to offset our losses."

He believes the best solution would be for NYPA to return all of its holdings to the county.

"The land could be developed for residential and commercial purposes and placed back on the tax rolls to generate millions of dollars in revenue for our schools, our towns and our county," Putney said.

For more about the Comptroller's report, see our earlier story.