Lynbrook Mayor Bill Hendrick one of six appointed to Town of Hempstead IDA

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The Hempstead Town Board named Lynbrook Mayor William Hendrick among six other appointees to its Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday morning, after six members of the previous board resigned a day earlier after being scrutinized for their handling of a tax break issued to the Green Acres Mall.

The board voted to appoint Arthur Nastre, John Ferretti Jr., Eric Malette, Steven Raiser and Florestano Girardi in addition to Hendrick. Newsday reported earlier this week that the IDA board members are unpaid and do not receive health or retirement benefits.

The drastic tax break for the mall was approved in 2015, which reduced the mall’s tax payments by $6 million this year and by a similar amount each year until 2022 as part of a payment in lieu of taxes agreement, or PILOT. That helped explain why tax bills in school districts 13, 24 and 30 increased, on average, between $322 and $758 this month, drawing fury from unsuspecting residents.

Valley Stream taxpayers, however, aren’t the only ones who will feel the impact of the redistributed tax burden. Valley Stream has one of three centralized high school districts in Nassau County. Each elementary district must pay a portion of the Central High School District budget, based on the taxable property in that elementary district. But because the mall is coming off the tax rolls, District 30’s payment to the Central High School District will shrink. That shortage will be redistributed across District 13’s and District 24’s properties — affecting not only Valley Stream, but parts of Lynbrook, Malverne, Franklin Square, Elmont and North Woodmere that are included in those districts.

Hempstead Town, the Village of Valley Stream and school district 24 have each announced plans to sue the IDA to nullify the contract, however, tax bills for affected parties were due Nov. 10.