Town Supervisor Moves to Have Town IDA Board Removed from Their Seats

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Anthony Santino is moving to have the town’s Industrial Development Agency Board removed for the tax breaks they gave to the Green Acres Mall.

Santino said that he will call upon the Town Board to remove the IDA board at the next town meeting on Nov. 15.

The IDA is a non-elected agency that works to encourage new businesses to come to the town and existing businesses to expand by offering tax breaks and incentives. If approved, businesses can save millions of dollars through the IDA.

Though the IDA has existed for years, the uproar comes after residents in Valley Stream saw their tax bills increase by hundreds of dollars due to tax breaks that the IDA gave to Green Acres Mall in 2014. According to Newsday, the tax breaks included a $6 million sales tax exemption and a $14 million PILOT (paid over 10 years).

“I am outraged by the IDA’s hearing process and handling of the Green Acres Mall PILOT agreement,” Santino said. “The pleas of taxpayers continue to fall on deaf ears at the IDA, and I will not stand for it. Hempstead Town is already filing a lawsuit to nullify the IDA’s deal. Now it’s time for the IDA to take a fresh new look at this ill-advised action. Clearly, the only way to do that is with new board members that will have the confidence of taxpayers.”

According to the town, the lawsuit that it filed against the IDA would restore the mall to the tax rolls, rescind the PILOT agreement and open new hearings into the matter.

Santino said that he lost confidence in the IDA board based on a variety of factors. He called the lack of transparency, accountability and public notice surrounding the Green Acres Mall PILOT “deeply disturbing.” In specific, Santino said that the IDA’s procedures evidenced jurisdictional defects in failing to provide public notice to various governments that would be impacted by the agreement. Further, he called the IDA’s actions in granting the PILOT arbitrary and capricious.

Many other politicians joined in criticising the IDA and the PILOT, including Senator Todd Kaminsky, who’s running for reelection this year.

“After learning of the devastating effects of the $14 million Green Acres Mall PILOT, I demanded the IDA Board reverse the PILOT, and if not, submit their resignations,” Kaminsky said in a release. “Today, I am encouraged that Supervisor Santino acknowledged our demands and moved to relieve the IDA Board of their positions. The interests of the already over-burned taxpayers must come first and the new IDA board must move quickly and decisively to reverse this unfortunate agreement.”

The IDA has not commented publicly on the lawsuit. At its last meeting on Oct. 26, the agency hired Camoin Associates to complete a secondary economic analysis of the project.

Photo: Town of Hempstead