COMIDA; feeling the Heat?
Check out this guess essay from COMIDA Director Judy Seil. Sounds like someone is feeling the heat.
Recently, the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA) has faced criticism following its decision to provide financial assistance for the proposed improvement project at the Mall at Greece Ridge, in addition to its proposed assistance for a similarly significant redevelopment project at Irondequoit’s Medley Centre.
Yeah, Judy - are a lot of unanswered questions. Unfortunately, she buys into the meme that companies won’t do these projects unless they get free money. (my emphasis)
Moreover, as Wilmorite Management Group has pointed out, the proposed improvement project would not have been possible if not for the incentives provided through COMIDA. Bersin Properties LLC has echoed just how important COMIDA support is to the innovative redevelopment plan slated for the underutilized Medley Centre mall property in Irondequoit.
So, the ~3% difference, the tax abatement granted these companies (or what Bresin is asking for for Medley Centre) REALLY is going to make the difference in these projects? As I’ve asked before - can’t they scale back the project and not use tax payer resources? Heck, Judy remember the Wellesley Inn? Manish Patel and his business case didn’t make sense unless he got a COMIDA grant.has anything really changed since the Wellesley Inn?
This is where our local media needs to be vigilant and ask the right questions.
Questions like
- How do you define “new” job? How do you account for jobs transferred from another part of the County?
- Why can’t projects be just a little less expensive or lower in scope without taxpayer involvement?
Those are my questions - what about yours?
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Don’t ask me how I know but Wilmorite is doing well enough to have purchased $20,000 in new copier equipment over the past month. This company is loaded with cash and does not need a handout from taxpayers.
stlo: The small amounts of money they save on sales tax and mortgage recording taxes are a smoke screen. The real savings are in the PILOT agreements, whereby they pay pennies on the dollar in property taxes relative to other tax payers.
Yes, I can imagine. Perhaps you can shed some additional light on PILOT?