Recall there was a COMIDA public hearing in Brighton. I wrote about it here.

Check out this write up in the MPN headed this blaring headline

Possible tax breaks for hotel draw protest

Geez -

Let’s review, Manish Patel received a $100, 000 tax exemption from COMIDA. This type of exemption can be awarded by the COMIDA board WITHOUT A PUBLIC HEARING. Sorry for the excitement there but look at what the article says -

Further raising ire with protesters, Patel automatically receives $100,000 worth of benefits simply for applying to COMIDA for the JobsPlus abatement subsidies.

So let’s review -

Possible tax breaks versus automatically received $100,000 worth of benefits

I guess automatic awarding of up to $100,000 sounds like a distinct possibility when dealing with COMIDA.

Reporter Rachel Dewey, MPN editors or whoever writes such things get the headlines right.

The issue is awarding an additional 166K (or as the article says 388K) on top of the 100K he already received.

The article is pretty good but misses the point especially where Manish said he is depending on the tax break to turn his business opportunity into a viable one. Sounds like rewarding poor business practices to me.

Did the article mention no one except Manish spoke in favor of the tax abatements?

Did the article mention that the tax abatements are really a tax diversaion. COMIDA redirects town revenue into projects that the town doesn’t have to agree with.

Yet another case where the Monroe County legislature appointed COMIDA board thinks it knows better than the citizens it is supposed to serve.

Related posts:

1. Brighton Lodging COMIDA benefits award crashes and burns
2. Paid Kuhl Staffer writes LTE to Messenger Post
3. Democrat & Chronicle dodges COMIDA Controversy
4. COMIDA - Paul Haney points to the folly of giving Brighton Lodging LLC tax abatements
5. Brighton Councilman Jim Vogel highlights the folly the COMIDA review process