NYC says United Nations owes $12 million in back rent
By RICHARD PYLE
AP
June 4, 2008
NEW YORK - The United Nations and its host city, noted for periodic quarrels over diplomatic deadbeats and parking scofflaws, are involved in another domestic spat _ this time over $6 million in rent the city wants for unbuilt office and residential space near the U.N.'s midtown headquarters.
In an audit report Thursday, City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. said the United Nations Development Corp. failed to pay a total of $12 million in rent from 2003 to 2006 required under a complex lease agreement to develop additional office space for the world body.
As a result of the audit, Thompson said in a statement, UNDC paid $6 million in back rent in April but still owes the balance.
Thompson criticized both the UNDC and the city's Economic Development Corporation for not ensuring that the city receive the entire unpaid amount.
"In this tight fiscal environment we cannot afford to let any revenue slip through our fingers," he said.
The dispute concerns a UNDC project to build a 35-story tower on land occupied by a city park.
The building was to be used for U.N. operations while its landmark headquarters underwent renovation, and later by U.N. staff now scattered about the city.
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Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
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