Supervisor Santino and Town Board, to Place Temporary Moratorium on ALL PILOT’s being Negotiated by Hempstead IDA until Controversial Valley Stream Green Acres PILOT is Properly Reviewed and Audited
(Mineola, NY) – Since tax bills with increases up to 12% higher per homeowner than previous years have hit Valley Stream residents last fall, Legislator Solages, along with his affected neighbors, has been fighting to make sense of why the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency (IDA) appointed by Supervisor Tony Santino and the Town of Hempstead Town Board negotiated a PILOT agreement with the management of longtime community fixture, Green Acres Mall, which resulted in the mall getting a big tax break while residents got a big tax hike.
After months of speaking to frustrated homeowners affected by the tax increase as a result of the Green Acres mall IDA PILOT agreement, Legislator Solages has decided to call upon Supervisor Tony Santino and the Town of Hempstead Town Board members to ask the Town IDA Board members, they just recently appointed, to implement a temporary moratorium of any and all PILOT agreement negotiations anywhere in the Town until the Green Acres Mall PILOT is thoroughly reviewed and audited.
“We have been doing community meetings, I have been visiting outraged residents of Valley Stream and I have heard their pain, their frustration and I share those emotions with them”, said Legislator Carrie Solages whom also resides in the affected area of Valley Stream where residents received a shocking tax increase as a result of a Town of Hempstead IDA negotiated PILOT agreement.
“It’s unfair to these residents, it’s unfair to the taxpayers. I think most people in Valley Stream work hard and moved here, like me, because they want to be part of a fantastic community that offers great schools, a great downtown and is just a great place to raise a family. Unfortunately, because of this tax hike, created by the Town of Hempstead IDA, the Valley Stream dream is harder and much more expensive to achieve for families than ever before”, said Legislator Carrie Solages.
“The moratorium came to mind while talking to frustrated residents. While I’m focused on fighting the Town of Hempstead IDA and whomever we have to fight to help get the residents their money back, I am also very thoughtful that this should never happen again; not here – not in any Town of Hempstead community, and it is time that we call for a moratorium on all PILOTS so to not just help the people of Valley Stream, but to protect all the other residents in the Town of Hempstead that risk the chance of having this happen to them and their community too,” said Legislator Solages.
“It’s clear! We need to take a pause to figure out what went wrong here and until we do I don’t think the Town IDA should be going into any new PILOT agreements anywhere in their entire jurisdiction of Hempstead,” exclaimed Solages. “The residents of Valley Stream deserve answers so they can find justice, and like anything the Town can learn from their mistakes by allowing a thorough review of how this PILOT agreement was negotiated to ensure future negotiated PILOT agreements don’t affect other communities like this one affected Valley Stream,” concluded Legislator Carrie Solages.
The Town of Hempstead IDA has reopened the PILOT agreement and will be holding a public hearing tomorrow night, Thursday January 19th at the Robert W. Carbonaro School, 50 Hungry Harbor Road Valley Stream, New York 11581 at 7pm. Legislator Solages encourages all community members to attend and let their voices be heard.