Feeding at the public trough . . .

TOWN DELEGATIONS LIVE HIGH IN NYC:

Each February, town officials and employees from across the state converge on Manhattan to hear the latest in municipal government, take courses, shop for consultants and compare notes with their peers.

Those who go call the annual Association of Towns conference an invaluable learning and networking opportunity. But for many, it’s also time to party in high fashion for a few nights, with much or all of their expenses covered by taxpayers back home.

This year, quite a few brought their spouses – and their Zagat restaurant guides.

Italian food, anyone? Two Woodbury officials tucked into a $150 meal at Patsy’s Italian Resaurant at 236 W. 56th St. one night – later reimbursed by the town.

How about a spectacular view of Times Square? Four conventioneers from Bethel and two from Saugerties all ordered the $65 prix fixe at The View, a revolving restaurant atop the Marquis Marriott. Their rooftop meals, covered by their towns, added up to $100 and $95 per person, respectively.

Haute cuisine was only part of the cost. While some towns in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties sent either no one or only a handful of representatives this year, others deployed large groups and rang up thousands of dollars in registration, hotel, meal and transportation expenses.

What’s more, some of the biggest spenders were southern Orange County commuter towns like Monroe – places close enough to New York City for conference-goers to have traveled back and forth, rather than dine out and stay in hotels. Out of 55 towns in the region, Chester – another commuter town – and Rosendale topped the list with more than $13,000 in expenditures, according to reimbursement vouchers and receipts obtained by the Times Herald-Record through the Freedom of Information Law.
The prize for dining extravagance went to Deerpark.

On the Sunday before the conference began, six officials from that town rang up a $488 bill at Etrusca’s. The next night it was $595 at Ben Benson’s Steakhouse. Tuesday, after the convention had ended for most people, the Deerpark crew charged $472 at McCormick & Schmick’s seafood restaurant.

Still, all the $40 prime ribs and $34 veal chops that conventioneers consumed paled beside what their rooms at the Sheraton, Hilton and Flatotel cost – $209 to $261 a night, in most cases. Many people stayed three nights, including the Tuesday after the lectures ended. A few stretched it to four.