Trustee moderates discussion of Green Acres Mall PILOT issue in Valley Stream

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Village Trustee Vincent Grasso hosted a forum at the Valley Stream American Legion Post 854 on Nov. 28 with intent to clear up some of the confusion surrounding tax breaks issued to the Green Acres Mall, and to allow residents to voice their concerns and ask questions.

“What I wanted to do was, a lot of folks have been offering plans and trying to offer answers for what is going on here,” said Grasso to an audience of roughly 30 people. “People haven’t gotten the answers they deserve or need, so that’s going to be part of this.”

The Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency granted a $6.5 million tax reduction for the Green Acres Mall this year in the form of payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs. The mall will receive a similar cutback every year through 2022. The burden to make up the difference has been shifted to local taxpayers, many of whom voiced their concerns at the meeting about why their tax bills increased between $300 and $750 in October.

“I think the whole thing is a sham,” said resident Ron Feltington. “How can these people make this decision when we’re paying the bill? How can this be?”

Grasso said he believed two actions caused the increase: the PILOT itself and the school districts’ low estimate of how much they would receive. District officials have said they were left to guess at how much revenue they would receive under the tax break’s payment plan.

Several residents took aim at the mall being granted the tax break after it was deemed a tourist attraction because at least 51 percent of its patrons come from outside Nassau County.

“The reason why they were so hot on making it a tourist attraction was because they’re not allowed to give [PILOTs] to retailers,” said Francine Eisner, a resident since 1957. “But it’s retail, it’s not tourists.”

While many residents expressed their anger toward the Green Acres Mall and its ownership, Macerich Company, David Sabatino, owner of Sip This on Rockaway Avenue, pointed the blame elsewhere.

“As much as it pains me to say this, Macerich … they did everything by the book,” he said. “If you read the law, these laws allow for what they did. So you can’t blame Macerich for protecting themselves and their pockets, and their investors’ pockets. So you have to go to the people who wrote the law, and this is a state law.”