Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos is calling on the county’s Industrial Development Agency to reconsider the criteria by which it grants tax breaks to businesses planning construction amid a recently issued report from the state comptroller’s office which showed that Nassau County’s tax breaks generated far fewer jobs off such projects in 2013 than in neighboring counties as well as IDA’s across the state.
In a letter to IDA Executive Director Joseph J. Kearney Tuesday, Maragos wrote the agency should “review their existing job creation strategies, personnel performance and to institute appropriate changes to achieve better results” than the 1,835 jobs the state reported Nassau netted that year when the county granted $43,325,571 in net tax exemptions.
“The [Nassau County Industrial Development Agency] plays an important role in ensuring that our county remains competitive within the region by maintaining and attracting new jobs. It is disappointing that we have fallen behind in these critical areas,” Maragos wrote.
Maragos in his analysis of Nassau’s IDA activity that year found the agency “appears to support smaller scale projects with less jobs potential,” suggesting it instead “favor higher quality projects that have the potential to create or retain a higher number of jobs.”
In 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Nassau County IDA approved 278 projects worth more than $2.9 billion and offered businesses more than $69 million in tax exemptions, according to the state comptroller’s May 18 report.
The Nassau IDA recovered just 37 percent of the exemptions through payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements with businesses, less than the 59 percent recouped by Suffolk and the 67 percent in Westchester.
The $43,325,571 Nassau County issued in net tax exemptions — tax exemptions minus payments in lieu of taxes — was far greater than the $13,164,205 issued in Suffolk and $25,730,802 in Westchester. Suffolk County reported that its tax breaks had created 14,080 net jobs and Westchester County reported that its tax breaks had generated 7,982 net jobs..
According to the state comptroller’s report, the Nassau IDA granted $23,611 in net exemptions per job, more than 10 times the state median, which the state comptroller’s office found to be $2,095 per job gained.
The Nassau County IDA did not immediately return a request for comment.
In a statement last week, Nassau IDA spokesman Alan J. Wax defended the agency’s performance, saying it focused its efforts in assisting 58 businesses affected by Superstorm Sandy the previous year.
Though it typically awards tax breaks in exchange for job creation and retention, Wax said the IDA in 2013 provided tax breaks to businesses shuttered by the storm that pledged to reopen in Nassau County.
“The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency works tirelessly to create new job opportunities to ensure that companies and their employees stay in Nassau County,” he said, touting that the IDA retained 12,771 jobs and created 3,886 jobs in 2013.
In his letter, Maragos cited a recent telephone conversation with Kearney in which the director was said to have disputed the accuracy of the job creation numbers in the state report and said that “updated NCIDA performance data” would be submitted to the county comptroller’s office by June 15.
A spokesman for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli told Blank Slate Media in June 2014 that the 109 active industrial development agencies in villages, towns, cities and counties across the state voluntarily report their own data to Albany each year, but noted the figures may not always be completely accurate.
Jobs created and retained through IDA-supported projects were down across the state in 2013 while agencies approved more in tax breaks than they did the previous year, the state comptroller’s office found.
Businesses were granted $660 million in net tax exemptions, a $105 million increase, while jobs decreased by about 23,000 from year-to-year, according to the report.
DiNapoli in a statement accompanying his report acknowledged the impact industrial development agencies can make in generating economic development but called on local governments to increase oversight on the application process “so that taxpayers know if their community is receiving promised jobs and economic benefits.”
Maragos’ letter is the latest in a series of critiques from public officials on the scrutiny with which the county IDA reviews and approves applications and the benefits the tax breaks generate.
Members of the Mineola Board of Education recently opposed tax breaks and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes plans for both recently approved and forthcoming apartment buildings within the Village of Mineola, citing a potential hardship for the school district.
Village of North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss opposed a 20-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes plan on a luxury condominium that sought $4.6 million in tax breaks, but later agreed to a revised plan.
In 2013, the IDA dropped an application by the Bristal at North Hills for an extension of tax breaks following a firestorm of criticism by local officials objecting to a potential loss of revenue and lack of job creation, including Natiss, Great Neck and Herricks school officials and then-Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth.
