Riverhead IDA offers Sandy tax relief

The Riverhead Industrial Development Agency has started giving emergency sales tax relief letters to businesses damaged by superstorm Sandy, relieving them of the requirement to pay state sales tax on materials purchased to make needed repairs.

The agency is also putting together a program to help businesses damaged by the storm seek federal assistance and is looking at reducing its fees or setting a flat rate fee to reduce costs to businesses.

So far, two businesses have applied for storm-related assistance to the Riverhead IDA, but director Tracy Stark-James said she expects many more as damage is evaluated over the next few months.

She is also working to streamline IDA programs to assist businesses with projects that will cost $100,000 or more.

“We’re trying to do as much as we can with the resources we have,” she said.