Babylon Town IDA considers giving villages seats on the board
A Babylon Town plan would add representatives from three villages to the local IDA board. Feb. 25, 2014. Credit: Steve Pfost
Babylon Town villages may become involved in future discussions about tax abatement deals awarded by the Babylon Industrial Development Agency.
The IDA’s board next month votes on allowing one member of each village government to sit in as nonvoting members, or liaisons, IDA Chief Executive Matthew McDonough said. Deputy Town Supervisor Tony Martinez was approved by the IDA board as a town liaison in 2012.
The IDA board consists of seven voting members and one alternate. Of those, two are from Amityville and one each from Lindenhurst and Babylon Village, McDonough said. The new village representatives will be able to comment on any potential tax deals including when a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, is being considered for a business in the villages, he said.
“They’re there to know when things are coming up, why we’re doing what we’re doing,” McDonough said of the village representatives.
The majority of the IDA’s deals are in areas outside the villages, he said, but with revitalization efforts in Amityville and Lindenhurst, there will be an increase in IDA benefits being utilized in those villages. There are currently seven abatements for businesses in Amityville, four in Lindenhurst and one in Babylon out of 177 in the town, McDonough said.
It’s up to each village mayor to decide who to appoint to the IDA, but they must be an elected official. McDonough said having village officials as liaisons also will be beneficial to IDA board members.
“An elected official has a view of not only the trustee board but the planning and zoning boards,” he said. “They know what’s going on.”
Amityville Mayor Dennis Siry has selected Deputy Mayor Kevin Smith as the liaison. Last summer the village’s board of trustees passed a resolution asking state representatives for an amendment that would allow the village to have one member of the village board and three at-large members from the village on the IDA board when a PILOT is being considered within the village.
Siry said having Smith involved satisfies what the village was seeking. “I don’t think we need any more people, as long as they heed our advice and suggestions,” he said.
The Babylon and Lindenhurst mayors said they have not chosen their representatives but are supportive of the initiative.
McDonough said the issue will be before the board and likely voted on during the IDA’s March 21 meeting.
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
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