State legislators unveil petition to reverse Green Acres Mall tax break in Valley Stream

Two state lawmakers announced on Oct. 10 that they would fight to overturn a tax break for the Green Acres Mall alongside area residents who would have to shoulder the financial burden.

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages (D-Elmont) demanded that the IDA take action to rectify the situation for taxpayers, who they claim weren’t properly informed about the implications when the agreement was signed two years ago.

“In this case, in the dead of night, by unelected officials, the Town of Hempstead IDA imposed a massive tax increase on Valley Stream residents,” Kaminsky said. “Some residents will be paying nearly $800 more in tax increases a year … The saddest thing is that this tax increase isn’t going to a new science lab, it’s not going to a new ball field — it’s going to a shopping mall. The residents of this village had no input.”

The IDA approved the 15-year tax break — in the form of PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxes — two years ago, to foster economic growth in tandem with the mall’s expansion project. For the duration of the payment plan, the mall will come off the county’s tax rolls, beginning this month. At the 10-year mark, the IDA will determine whether the mall has added 670 employees, which would make it eligible for an additional five years.

In the first year of the PILOT plan, the mall’s payments to District 30, the village, town and county will total approximately $14 million. This year the mall paid about $15 million in school taxes alone, according to the county assessor.

As a result of the PILOT, taxes will likely increase in all three Valley Stream elementary school districts to varying degrees, but for different reasons.

Each elementary district must pay a portion of the Central High School District budget, based on the taxable property in that elementary district. Because the mall is coming off the tax rolls, District 30’s payment to the Central High School District will shrink, and that shortage will be redistributed across District 13’s and District 24’s properties. The average tax bill is projected to increase by 4.6 percent this year in District 13 (about $324), and by 5.2 percent in District 24 (about $322).

Because the PILOT affects District 30 directly, however, the district’s average tax bills are projected to increase the most over the last tax year, by about 12.2 percent, or $758, according to the county assessor.

The shift to PILOT payments this year will not affect the tax revenue the schools collect, but will shift the financial impact of the mall’s tax exemptions across the different classes of properties. In Nassau County, there are four classes of property, each with its own tax rate: Class 1, single-family homes; Class 2, apartments and condominiums; Class 3, utility company properties; and Class 4, commercial properties. Each fall, the county determines how much of the overall tax burden will be borne by property owners in each of the four classes.

According to a State Education Department official, property that comes off the tax rolls will increase state aid levels for affected school districts — but that increase takes a few years to become effective. Because of the way state aid is calculated, a change in 2016 won’t affect state aid until the 2019-20 school year.

Parcels coming off the rolls and onto a PILOT are fairly common in New York state. Data from the state comptroller shows 492 districts had some level of PILOT revenue in 2015 — 83 of which reported more than $1 million in revenue.

Fred Parola, executive director of the Town of Hempstead IDA, told the Herald earlier this month that the agency couldn’t reopen the PILOT hearing because the payment plan was finalized two years ago. “We had two public hearings –– one in the Town of Hempstead and one in Valley Stream,” he said. “Nobody showed up.”

“If we didn’t provide them benefits to the level that we did … the taxes would have been worse on homeowners…,” Parola added. “Green Acres Mall was threatening to go belly-up.”

Solages disputed this point, and said that the tax break would hurt, rather than help, the community.

“Economic development incentives are supposed to create jobs and better the community, and this agreement that was done by the Town of Hempstead IDA is doing the exact opposite,” Solages said. “It’s going to create pandemonium. It’s going to ignite foreclosures …”

District 13 resident Maribel Canestro was the third person to sign the petition. “They need to hear us,” she said. “What they did is wrong.”

Kaminsky and Solages said that a copy of the petition would be delivered to the IDA. The petition can be viewed online at: www.nysenate.gov/petitions/todd-kaminsky/petition-town-hempstead-board-reverse-14-million-pilot-agreement.

Corrections:

The story “Tax increases expected in Valley Stream,” in the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 issue incorrectly reported that the Green Acres Mall PILOT payments would be about $2.7 million less than the most recent taxes the mall paid. It will be about $6 million less. This approximation takes into account the difference between the new PILOT payments and taxes previously paid by the mall to Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead and District 30 combined, which the PILOT replaced. It should be noted that only portions of the mall are in the Incorporated Village of Valley Stream.