Riverhead Industrial Development Agency

The tension that’s been building between the Riverhead school district and Riverhead Industrial Development Agency over property tax exemptions was on full display at Monday’s RIDA meeting, where one RIDA board member lashed out at the school district, accusing it of hating subsidized housing and failing to control its own budget.

Riverhead IDA watchdog and former board member Larry Simms discusses the agency's decision-making processes, which he argues lead to many bad decisions.

Former Riverhead IDA Board member Larry Simms in a series of three essays discusses the IDA's projects, processes and impacts.

They had come bearing paper signs to convey their message the IDA board, not knowing what the outcome would be. By the time the IDA meeting was over Monday night, jubilant residents celebrated what many saw as a hard-fought victory.

The Riverhead IDA is scheduled to take up a resolution Monday evening deciding Calverton Aviation & Technology's financial capability to develop the Calverton Enterprise Park— a decision crucial to how Riverhead's $40 million land deal proceeds — or whether it proceeds at all.

A growing local faction is demanding that the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency be dissolved.

CAT has backed away from its air cargo proposal for EPCAL and now says its development plan is in flux. The IDA's review of CAT's application for tax breaks in the absence of a firm plan is improper, the chairperson of the State Senate's government watchdog committee said. First District Sen. Anthony Palumbo, a member of that committee, agreed.

Citing the loss of more than $15 million in tax revenue over the past decade — $2.7 million in 2022 alone — Riverhead school district officials say 'enough is enough.'

Supervisor Yvette Aguiar raised concerns last week about when the town would receive the balance of its $40 million for land at the Calverton Enterprise Park, if the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency moves the town's deal with Calverton Aviation and Technology forward.

According to data reported by the Riverhead IDA to the state comptroller, net school property tax exemptions granted by the IDA in the decade from 2013 to 2022 totaled more than $15 million.