Our Views: The Bristal stomp

The Island Now

When he looked at the generous tax concessions that had been requested by the developers of the upscale Bristal senior housing, Village of North Hills Mayor Marvin Nattis smelled a rat and, frankly, so do we.

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency ultimately decided not to extend the concessions but not until taxpayers and elected officials raised their voices in anger.

Engel Burman, the developer of the Bristal senior facilities, was originally awarded the concessions in the form of a payment in lieu of taxes or PILOT. We don’t see any reason why luxury housing for seniors should qualify for a tax break from the IDA in the first place. But to consider a second 10-year deal makes no sense at all. Is this really what the IDA was created for?

 And how did this happen?

For years Engel Burman has been greasing the wheels of government from the governor’s office to the campaigns of candidates running for Nassau County executive.

Since the 2010 the developer has made at least $128,000 in political contributions to county and statewide candidates. Not wanting to appear partisan, the company made contributions to candidates running for both parties.

Engel Burman, its partners and limited liability companies that are run out of a Lynbrook office, donated $32,000 to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign and thousands to the Nassau County Republican Party.

The Burman LLCs gave $24,000 to former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi’s (D) campaign between 2007 and 2009. The company also contributed to the campaign of County Executive Edward Mangano.

 In 2006 Engel Burman also gave more than $66,000 to Suozzi’s unsuccessful 2006 primary campaign when he ran against Eliot Spitzer for governor of New York.

We assume that the company took care not to violate laws regarding campaign contribution limits. 

However Cuomo, Mangano, Suozzi and others that benefitted from this generosity had to know it was not an expression of Engel Burman’s concern for good government.

Engel Burman needs friends in high places. In November the company filed a petition for a 10-year extension of its PILOT for North Hills, Massapequa and Westbury facilities. In December the petition was denied.

School board officials from Herricks and Great Neck, as well as Nattis and Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth said the proposed agreements would have cost the districts and village millions in property tax revenues.

“There’s got be a fix in. I’m really upset about it. It’s not a meritorious application,” said Natiss “This whole thing smells. It’s greed.”

The IDA only dropped the PILOT extension after opponents met with Mangano and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos.

“The county executive had a conversation with the mayor of North Hills and the county executive asked us to look at this more carefully and we did,” said IDA Executive Director Joseph Kearney who was appointed by Mangano.

Why did it take that long for Mangano, Maragos and Kearney to realize that this was not a good deal for the residents of Nassau County?

 If Natiss and others had not made a fuss about the sweetheart deal, it most likely would have gone through for another 10 years.

The luxury senior housing is only one investment of the Engel Burman Group. The company has a large industrial portfolio with properties in New York and other states. It appears that the campaign contributions by its LLCs are just a part of doing business.

Such generous campaign contributions are a boldface attempt to buy influence at the taxpayers’ expense. They make a mockery of the democratic process and put the average taxpayer at a distinct disadvantage

Lawyers may argue that the contributions are legal, but no one can argue that they are ethical.

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