The Treasurer is charged with the collection, custody, and deposit of all taxes and other funds due to the City, maintains records of all transactions, provides data to the public as requested and supervises and manages the Central Data Processing Unit. This unit provides electronic data processing for all City units including processing for payrolls, accounting records, assessment and tax data and personnel records. The office fulfills numerous special requests for information and statistics throughout the year, and provides storage and retrieval of data for later evaluation and review.

In addition, the Parking Violations Bureau, as part of the Treasurer's Office, collects fines imposed by the Albany Police Department on illegally parked vehicles.

President-elect Barack Obama issued a warning Sunday to officials around the country who want to fund projects with federal dollars: no more business as usual.

Decisions on projects won't be made "simply based on politics," President-elect Obama said on "Meet the Press."

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama said: "What we need to do is examine: What are the projects where we're going to get the most bang for the buck? How are we going to make sure taxpayers are protected?

"You know, the days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy, those days are over."

Empire State Development did a review of the proposed financing and cost estimates, which includes an analysis by the accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The authority has not yet been told when it will receive the report, but Stewart said officials may learn more details this week.

Stewart said the authority will release its copy of the report on the same day it is received from the state.

The convention center would fill downtown Albany's biggest open chunk of land, and, if the project lives up to its promise, bring in a new stream of visitors. In shopping center parlance, it would be a major anchor, joining the Times Union Center, the Palace Theatre, the Capitol and Empire State Plaza ­— including the State Museum and The Egg — as large draws of people

So it is gratifying, if not elating, to see that those dogged folks at the Albany Convention Center Authority have come up with a plan that will save the convention center concept

For one, this will mean jobs, lots of them, at a time when the building trades are looking at a stagnant market, or worse. Convention Authority chair Gavin Donohue estimates construction on the shovel-ready site will mean employment for 400 to 500. Further, he says the analysis of the completed project estimates about 800 permanent jobs will be created by the convention center and the accompanying parking garages and hotel.

But the best news concerning the rethought vision for building a convention center in tough economic times is that far fewer taxpayer dollars will be involved, and fewer dollars, period.

Sure, an Albany convention center probably will lose money.

Without the convention center we're trusting to luck and whatever private developers come up with piecemeal. That's bound to be less, in my view. With a convention center, we still will benefit from the additional development with private money the complex is bound to attract and stimulate. So it's win-win with a revamped, lower-cost, public-private convention center, and a Hail Mary without.

Donohue and the convention center authority board and staff have gone the extra mile here for a keeping a good idea alive in troubled times, and deserve recognition. But so do the political leaders in Albany city and county, from Jennings to Breslin, Connors to Commisso. They've been uncommonly supportive.

You know, John Sweeney is a good friend of mine, and I happened to have to go to Washington D.C. last Thursday with the understanding I would be back in Albany by 10:15. I had to stay over at John Sweeney's house—I don't know what was more expensive, the airline ticket or what he charged me to stay at his apartment. No, it was a great night, John, more interesting morning

Mr. SWEENEY. Thanks, Chairman. Mayor, thank you for the great insight that you gave us in your testimony, and I know from our experience last Thursday that your experience is really a first hand knowledge as it relates to economic development, but also part of this hearing is going to focus on some of the consumer issues and I think really some of the problems that we have had. If you are underserviced generally, the insult to injury part of the equation really relates to how the airlines treat customers. I think it would be valuable for some of us here if we heard a little bit about what your experience was last Thursday aside from when you stayed at my apartment.

Mr. JENNINGS. We are going to leave that out, John.

Federal criminal charges are being contemplated in connection with an exhaustive FBI investigation surrounding the business dealings of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.