NYC residents continue to clamor for Long Island's East End

Daily Point

East End housing market supercharges CPF revenues

The East End housing market again has defied expectations, staying hot in April despite coronavirus restrictions that curtailed operations for real estate companies and brokers.

Revenue for the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund, funded by a 2% tax on East End home sales, was $7.403 million, slightly higher than April 2019’s figure of $7.401 million. For the first four months of the year, CPF revenues were $38.32 million, a whopping 60.1% increase over last year.

“There’s not a lot of things in government that surprise me,” State Assemb. Fred Thiele, whose experience spans four decades, told The Point, “but that surprised me.”

After a lackluster 2019 due to the federal income tax cap on the deductibility of state and local taxes, the market had roared back in January, February and March. But Thiele, an Independence Party member from Sag Harbor who co-sponsored the CPF legislation, expected a big drop-off in April because of difficulties conducting business related to COVID-19. But the desire of New York City dwellers to escape the virus kept the market super-charged, Thiele said.

“I’m not saying they’re going to leave the city but they certainly want an alternative,” he said. “There is a general consensus that there is a strong demand, and a lot of that demand is being driven by people who want an option to be in a less dense environment.”

Leading the way was Southampton Town, which took in $23.31 million over the four months, a 93.9% increase from last year.

Thiele said he recently asked an East End real estate friend whether April’s figure might have been largely deals already in the pipeline before the state imposed its restrictions and that sales would tail off in May.

“He told me he just did three closings that day,” Thiele said.

A hot East End real estate market is never really a surprise.

—Michael Dobie @mwdobie

Talking Point

Albany focuses on COVID-19 issues

For now, the State Legislature has one issue on its agenda. 

The pandemic.

All of the bills that lawmakers are addressing this week are COVID-19-related. Everything else has been put to the side — for now. 

That’s not to say some important items aren’t getting done. State Sen. Todd Kaminsky told The Point that among the key pieces of legislation moving forward is a bill to allow industrial development agencies to provide small businesses — with 20 or fewer employees — grant money specifically designated for personal protective equipment or protective fixtures like Plexiglas. Lawmakers also are trying to better define price gouging, particularly on medical equipment, and to protect volunteer firefighters’ retirement benefits, which are usually dependent in part on how often they make calls or do duty at a firehouse, but now aren’t always coming to the firehouse itself. 

But anything non-COVID-19-related is, for now, on hold. The state’s fiscal situation is a big question mark, dependent on what assistance comes from the federal government. How much will have to be cut — and from where — remains to be seen. And any talk about additional revenue generators, like sports betting or other long-discussed ideas, also will have to wait.

“None of them are ripe yet when we don’t know what Washington is going to do,” Kaminsky said.

Then there are a host of other important topics the legislature hasn’t been able to address — from illegal dumping to hate crimes to housing discrimination.

“I think they will be taken up,” Kaminsky said. “The question is when.”

What’s possible, lawmakers told The Point, is a scenario where the legislature returns — whether in June, later in the summer, or in the fall, or at multiple times – to deal with some of the issues that fall outside the pandemic’s umbrella.

Assemb. Fred Thiele, an Independence Party member who caucuses with Democrats, noted that in the past, it was typical for the legislature to return to Albany for “late sessions.”

“I expect people will adjust to working remotely and we’ll be doing a lot of it through the rest of the year,” Thiele said.

Added Kaminsky: “We’re not done. There are many important things to get done but the calendar remains to be seen.”

—Randi F. Marshall and Michael Dobie @RandiMarshall and @mwdobie

Pencil Point

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Final Point

Nassau puts up $500,000 for $10 million

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Nassau County IDA Chairman Richie Kessel have announced that the county and the IDA’s sister agency, the Local Economic Assistance Corp., would put up $250,000 each to access up to $10 million in loans for Nassau County businesses via a new state lending program. 

The program is for businesses with 20 employees or fewer and with total annual revenues of $3 million or less, and landlords who do not own more than 200 apartments or a single property with more than 50. Applicants cannot have won funding from the Paycheck Protection Program or at the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. And 5% of the money is reserved for nonprofits.

It sounds great, but where is a broke Nassau getting the money?

On the county side, Evlyn Tsimis, deputy county executive for economic development, said the $250,000 comes from additional federal Community Development Block Grant funding included in the CARES Act to help localities through the coronavirus pandemic.

Kessel said the other $250,000 came from the Local Economic Assistance Corp., an agency the IDA created to help nonprofits and businesses. It’s not taxpayer money but comes from transaction fees the agency collects. The IDA staff and board also run the LEAC.

Neither the county nor the LEAC will actually administer or make the loans, which are to be paid back with interest over five years, and will be granted by several banks.  

The New York Forward Loan Fund, created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this month, is $100 million, and Long Island is eligible for 18% of that. But while Nassau County is seeking $10 million, Suffolk is only using the 20-1 match to go after $5 million …. so far. 

The difference is that while Suffolk’s Economic Development Corporation put up $250,000, much as Nassau’s LEAC did, Suffolk County itself did not put up an additional $250,000.

But county spokesman Jason Elan said in an email that Suffolk is exploring other ideas to utilize the funding this program has made available.

And the odds are far better than 20-1 that both counties will have more takers than it can handle for this deal. 

—Lane Filler @lanefiller