IDA pulls tax breaks from distributor

The Babylon Industrial Development Agency has rescinded tax breaks to an East Farmingdale marble distributor that it says has failed to pay its reduced 2017 property taxes.

The IDA commonly offers the property tax reduction, known as a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, as part of a package of financial benefits to companies in Babylon Town that the agency deems important to the local economy.

The IDA approved tax breaks for Anita Logistics in 2009 that were projected to be worth $224,943, according to agency chief executive Matthew T. McDonough. But the company did not make its 2017 PILOT payments, which, with penalties and interest, totaled $73,083 by early August, McDonough said.

As such, the IDA board voted Aug. 15 to rescind the company’s remaining tax breaks.

The company now will be required to pay its 2017 property taxes at the standard rate, McDonough said.

Officials at Anita Logistics could not be reached for comment.

It’s rare that companies lose their IDA benefits, McDonough said. “During the recession it happened a few times, but it’s not common.”