Legislation requiring industrial development agencies to have school district and labor union representatives on their governing boards was vetoed by Gov. Kathy Hochul last week.
The legislation passed by wide margins in both chambers of the state legislature in June. Supporters included State Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), Assembly Member Jodi Giglio (R-Baiting Hollow) and Assembly Member Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor).
MORE COVERAGE: School districts and labor unions would be represented on IDA boards under bipartisan bill passed by state lawmakers
In her veto message, Hochul said school district and labor union representatives are “already eligible to serve as members of industrial development agencies.” Therefore, she concluded, “it is most appropriate to ensure specific industrial development agency members are chosen by the municipality to best represent the interests of the community rather than imposing an inflexible statutory requirement.”
Giglio said in a phone interview yesterday she did not expect Hochul to veto the measure. “I was really surprised by it,” Giglio said. “I think that we should have a representative of the school board on the IDAs,” she said.
An IDA board can have up to seven members, Giglio said, so an IDA board like Riverhead’s which has five members can be expanded by the town board to accommodate school district and union representation.
“The governor has always been a big proponent of people having a seat at the table for the voices that have not been heard, and the fact that she vetoed, it is very surprising, actually,” Giglio said.
The assembly member wondered aloud who might have lobbied the governor against this bill. She said she was trying to find that out. “I have a feeling it was the large developers,” she said. “The large developers are the ones that benefit from this, and we see the same names over and over again of the people that are building all of these affordable housing projects that are getting the tax benefits and are getting certain subsidies from the state in terms of the rent after the buildings are built,” Giglio said.
Giglio is a partner in Eastern Property Investor Consultants, a company that developed the first mixed-use workforce housing apartment building in downtown Riverhead called Summerwind Square. Her partners in the company were other local businesspersons: Wayne Steck, Martin Sendlewski and Raymond Dickhoff. The company was approved by the Riverhead IDA in December 2009 for a 10-year financial assistance package that included real property tax exemptions. Giglio said yesterday she is opposed to 20-year and 30-year abatements unless the developer is an entity that could become a nonprofit, which would then be exempt from property taxes because of its nonprofit status. She cited the Long Island Aquarium, which received longer property tax exemptions, as an example of such an entity.
Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard did not respond to an email sent yesterday seeking comment on the governor’s veto and asking whether he would support increasing the IDA board to seven members for the purpose of adding school district and labor union representation.
When the legislation was introduced, the Riverhead school board president spoke out in favor of it. The Riverhead Central School District has repeatedly voiced opposition to financial assistance applications that reduce a developer’s obligation for school district property taxes.
The Riverhead Central Faculty Association, a labor union representing Riverhead school district teachers, has been active in opposition to IDA tax breaks for developers in Riverhead.
In the 10 years from 2013 through 2022, school district net property tax exemptions approved by the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency — after payments in lieu of taxes —totaled more than $15 million.
“Hochul’s veto is a loss for the taxpayers and the students of Riverhead and an endorsement of unfettered and unchecked tax giveaways to corporate entities at the expense of our communities,” RCFA President Gregory Wallace said today.
The RCFA joined other unions, education associations, school funding advocates and government watchdog groups in the State Capitol last January to lobby lawmakers for passage of legislation that would have banned industrial development agencies from exempting school property taxes. That bill died in committee.
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