Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) – State Assemblyman Pat Burke has introduced legislation that would prevent Empire State Development (ESD) and other entities operating under the New York State Urban Development Corporation Act from granting property tax exemptions or PILOT agreements benefiting private development projects in cities without the approval of a local governing body.
The Chair of the New York State Assembly Committee on Cities introduced the legislation – the City Fiscal Home Rule Act – in response to ESD’s proposed redevelopment of the North Aud Block at Canalside, where the state is proposing a $225 million development, with $197 million – or 88% – coming from taxpayers. The project is centered on a 30-year tax exemption, meaning the privately developed property would not go onto Buffalo’s tax rolls at its full value for three decades.
“Seeing what’s happening downtown at the Aud site and the incredible, massive subsidy that’s going on over there – nearly $1 million per-apartment for this housing development that they’re doing – it’s out of control,” said Burke in an interview with WBEN. “One of the big problems with it, though, is it didn’t even need city council approval or county [legislature] approval for the state to come in and say, ‘No, no, no. These guys don’t have to pay taxes.’ And these guys, it’s a company that’s worth billions of dollars. This is the problem that exists, this is what makes people so angry. They know they have to pay all their bills, but the people who make the rules and the rich guys, they live by a different set of rules.”…