County Legislature Democrats are continuing to press for reforms in COMIDA, the county's Industrial Development Agency, and they've scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Thursday, September 13, at the County Office Building, 39 West Main Street.

The Democrats want the legislature to have more oversight of the agency, and they say COMIDA should do a better job insuring that businesses that get tax breaks and other benefits create jobs. The activist group Metro Justice has been working with the Democratic caucus to turn people out for the hearing. The hearing, says Metro Justice organizer Jon Greenbaum, "is an opportunity shed a light on COMIDA."

Metro Justice is a long-time critic of COMIDA's practices. It has complained that the agency not only fails to ensure job creation but also discriminates against many local small retailers by giving tax breaks to companies such as Wegmans. "There are a lot of hard-working small-business owners in the community," Greenbaum said late last week, "and I'm sure they're wondering why the county is subsidizing their competition."

The Democrats' focus on COMIDA got a boost earlier this week when the State Comptroller's Office released an audit charging that the county and COMIDA improperly used $2.5 million in state funds. The money was meant to help with the cost of building new facilities at the Rochester airport, says the audit. Instead, it was used for revenue-guarantee payments to AirTran, a low-cost airline.

The audit also charges that the county tried to keep the payment to AirTran out of the public eye, to keep other carriers from seeking similar subsidies. COMIDA meeting notices were published only in the Gates-Chili Post weekly newspaper. And board minutes contained no mention of discussion about the payment.

The county refutes the charges. In a response to the audit, county attorney Daniel DeLaus said the state "dictated that the money was to be used for one purpose only - to induce the low-fare carrier AirTran to Monroe County." If the county had used the funds for any other purpose, DeLaus wrote, it would have violated the law. "The entire transaction was conducted openly and legally," wrote DeLaus.

Democrats jumped on the audit announcement, proposing reform legislation and asking the district attorney's office to open a criminal investigation into the matter. Assistant DA Ken Hyland said on Monday that the office was aware of the request, but that officials hadn't decided whether an investigation was warranted.