Mineola touts benefits of development in village budget

Noah Manskar

Village of Mineola residents have development projects to thank for their flat property taxes, village officials said Wednesday.

Payments in lieu of taxes and host community benefit payments from the village’s apartment projects helped flatten the village tax levy in its proposed $19.5 million 2016-2017 budget, Mayor Scott Strauss said.

“It’s certainly music to our ears and to anybody else’s ears that are out there,” Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira said.

The budget proposes a $41,349, or 0.21 percent, spending increase over 2015-2016 while maintaining a $13,348,895 property tax levy.

Some $28,055 in additional payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, and $4,550 in additional payments from the village’s two active host community benefit agreements with developers account for the bulk of a $45,349 increase in other revenue.

Mineola’s property tax grievance refunds are set to fall $50,000 to $280,000, Strauss said, down from more than $1 million in 2006.

The village also made the final payments on a 2007 bond in the fall, reducing its total debt by $335,000 to just under $12 million, officials said. The budget says debt service payments will decrease more than $339,000.

The extra development revenue helps the village do more — paving more roads or adding security at parks, for example — without raising taxes, Strauss said.

“We’re doing things that other communities can only dream about,” he said.

Boosting security for Wilson Park and the recently renovated Memorial Park will cost a $15,000, raising park security expenses to $35,000, village Treasurer Giacomo Ciccone said.

Strauss said the budget includes an additional $50,000 for road repaving.

Salary increases also drive spending hikes in several budget categories, the proposed budget shows.

Some $5,500 in savings comes from not having a village election in 2017, which recently re-elected Trustee Paul Cusato attributed to the Village Board’s 2013 move to lengthen trustees’ terms to four years.

The village also no longer has to pay Metropolitan Transportation Authority payroll taxes from its library fund, Ciccone said.

The connection between village revenue from residential developments and the flat tax levy supports the board’s position that the projects are a boon to the village and benefit taxpayers.

“Proof in the pudding — anybody who tells you we’re not getting money for these buildings is inaccurate and wrong,” Strauss said.

Pereira and Cusato won their seats again last month in an election that became a referendum on the four projects, which will bring more than 1,000 new apartments when they are complete.

Their opponents, former mayors John Colbert and Larry Werther, charged the Village Board has allowed developers to get too-large tax breaks for projects that could increase traffic and strain village infrastructure while the village gets little financial benefit.

This budget proves them wrong, Strauss said — between PILOTs, host community benefit payments and a total of about $9 million in development incentive bonus payments from developers, the village will receive more than it would if the properties were on the tax rolls.

“When people during the campaign said ‘You’re getting nothing,’ they’re lying,” Strauss said.

Three of the four projects have gotten 20-year PILOT agreements from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency that effectively give them deep discounts on property taxes.

The Village Board also approved Wednesday host community benefit agreements for the 266-unit Village Green at 199 Second St. and the 192-unit project at the former site of the Corpus Christi Elementary School.

As with the two existing agreements, the developers will pay the village 90 percent of regular property taxes annually over the course of their 20-year PILOT agreements, minus the value of each year’s PILOT payment, Village Attorney John Gibbons said.

PILOT and host community benefit payments to the village will continue to increase over the life of the agreements, Strauss said.

The agreements are notable because they give the village almost full tax revenue despite the developers seeking tax breaks from the IDA, Gibbons said.

“The fact that this board was able to negotiate a deal of this magnitude speaks volumes,” he said.

Trustees also voted Wednesday to apply for $410,000 in Nassau County Community Development Block Grants, including $270,000 to fund the next stage of the facade improvement program for downtown businesses.

It’s unlikely the village will get the full amount, said Tom Savino, president of Plainview-based Vision Accomplished and coordinator of the facade improvement program. But whatever funds do come through will be available for a couple years, he said.

The village will learn how much it is set to receive in June, Savino said.

 

Reach reporter Noah Manskar by e-mail at nmanskar@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @noahmanskar and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.

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