The Brookhaven IDA (Industrial Development Agency) brought in the most revenue outside of New York City in 2021 from fees in putting together deals for corporate tax breaks.More \u2014 and bigger \u2014 tax abatement deals mean more revenues for IDAs. These unelected boards drive economic development in counties, cities, towns and villages \u2014 in Brookhaven, its members are appointed by the Town Board.Brookhaven IDA raked in more than $5 million in revenue, according to national policy resource center Good Jobs First. In comparison, New York City IDA brought in $14 million, while the next highest charges for services was $1 million less in several upstate IDAs that are countywide \u2014 instead of a single town. (Brookhaven has among the largest populations in New York.)The largest revenue boost came from the approval of tax abatements that year for NorthPoint Development and Winters Brothers\u2019 rail terminal on Sills Road in Yaphank. The $506 million project would consist of 2.5 million square feet over four warehouses in proximity to a freight railroad link. The Brookhaven IDA awarded the developers more than $73 million in tax breaks over 15 years.Since 2021, the IDA has brought in less than $1.5 million from fees year-after-year, according to the agency’s 2024 budget.The Good Jobs First report found that although IDAs were created to spur economic development in their communities, \u201cthey have a conflicting self-interest to maximize transaction fees.\u201d The revenues are used to pay staff salaries and benefits plus their consultants, which could be incentivized to make more deals.\u201cIDAs can only grow their budgets by awarding more and bigger tax breaks to companies,\u201d wrote Anya Gizis, research analyst at Good Jobs First. \u201cThe abatements take money away from cities, counties, and schools, and shift the tax burden onto other taxpayers.\u201dSchools in New York lost at least $1.8 billion in 2021 to corporate tax breaks. A bill in the state legislature was introduced to prohibit IDAs from eating into school tax revenue. The bill has garnered support from major groups, like New York State United Teachers, the state\u2019s largest union. Last year, the Town of Riverhead pushed for its IDA to dissolve completely because of property tax breaks that drained school funding.Advocates and some parents say these deals are made at the expense of local schools and public services.On Wednesday, the Brookhaven IDA will hold a public hearing on whether to provide tax breaks for a 500,000-square-foot diesel truck terminal in North Bellport. The developer \u2014 global investment firm Ares Management \u2014 has planned for a distribution center that includes warehouses.Last year, the IDA board delayed consideration of the warehouses because the town attorney believed the nearby community was \u201cmisinformed\u201d on the logistics and need of the tax abatement.\u201cOur school district cannot afford to be continually defunded by the Brookhaven IDA,\u201d said Kerim Odekon, a parent of children at South Country Central School District.On the same day in November, the IDA approved a six-month moratorium on approving tax breaks for warehouse projects of more than 100,000 square feet. The concern was that these \u201cmega warehouses\u201d were built by developers without tenants already in place. The board opted to study whether these facilities in Brookhaven and across Long Island are not yet contributing directly to the local economy. Ares’ proposal was excluded from the moratorium because it preceded the vote.Top of mind for the IDA board will be the results of that study, which found the region is at risk of being saturated with vacant warehouses \u2014 and older existing warehouses will likely remain vacant. In addition, the study shows due to an oversupply of warehouses, vacancy rates are expected to exceed 6-11% by 2028.A similar study was conducted in 2022, which found that the \u201cwarehouse industry will be facing double-digit vacancies due to a glut of warehouses.\u201d\u201cThese unnecessary IDA exemptions to multi-billion dollar firms take money from our kids\u2019 education and redistribute the tax burden to existing residents and businesses [by raising taxes] for everyone else, \u201d Odekon wrote to Brookhaven Town Board members this week, calling for them to testify in opposition of the Ares project.The Town of Brookhaven did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Brookhaven IDA brought in over million in revenue in 2021 from fees for corporate tax breaks, making it the highest revenue generator outside of New York City. The largest revenue boost came from tax abatements for NorthPoint Development and Winters Brothers’ rail terminal project. The IDA has faced criticism for prioritizing transaction fees over economic development, with concerns raised about the impact on schools and public services. The IDA is considering providing tax breaks for a diesel truck terminal in North Bellport, with concerns about the potential impact on school funding. The board has also imposed a moratorium on tax breaks for warehouse projects over 100,000 square feet due to concerns about oversupply and vacancy rates in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,1964,4791,3492,6569,1766,4029,3894,5292,279,2536,2460,33,2577,4498,8749,4758,6548,3818,3066,260,3395,26,405,2544,304,3895,10015,7905,1991,899,2753,28,148,1236,387,6653,2788,2628,393,9485,4833,4753,5402,284,4340,4671,6947,5051,4620,6074,5612,5614,4054,470,3771,433,133,1806,6928,7967,1358,1065,10014,4505,6917,4771,1183,7191,6959,618,4682,3364,1774,2771],"class_list":["post-11847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-2024-budget","tag-approval","tag-bill","tag-board-members","tag-budget","tag-budgets","tag-charges","tag-children","tag-comment","tag-communities","tag-community","tag-companies","tag-concerns","tag-corporate-tax","tag-corporate-tax-breaks","tag-criticism","tag-delayed","tag-development","tag-diesel","tag-dollar","tag-economic-development","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-fees","tag-funding","tag-hearing","tag-idas","tag-impact","tag-industry","tag-interest","tag-investment","tag-jobs","tag-local","tag-logistics","tag-lost","tag-management","tag-mind","tag-money","tag-new-york","tag-parents","tag-policy","tag-project","tag-projects","tag-property","tag-property-tax","tag-proposal","tag-public-services","tag-raising-taxes","tag-report","tag-research","tag-revenue","tag-revenues","tag-risk","tag-road","tag-salaries","tag-school","tag-schools","tag-services","tag-six","tag-state","tag-support","tag-tax","tag-tax-abatement-deals","tag-tax-breaks","tag-tax-burden","tag-tax-revenue","tag-taxes","tag-taxpayers","tag-teachers","tag-top","tag-truck","tag-villages","tag-vote","tag-warehouse"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n