NEW WINDSOR – Orange County lawmakers stood outside the County’s Industrial Development Agency offices on Monday to condemn it for what they say is failing to do its job.
The lawmakers shared heated remarks amid freezing temperatures in reaction to the recently released periodic report from the agency’s state appointed monitor.
That report shows that over half the companies that have been given million-dollar tax breaks in exchange for creating and retaining jobs have failed to fulfill to do so.
The businesses that applied for the program were obligated as part of their approval to create dozens and, in some instances, hundreds of jobs.
State Senator James Skoufis says the revelation is shocking.
“If that does not make you angry enough as a taxpayer and as representatives of taxpayers, what is just as bad is that the Orange County IDA had no idea this was happening over all these years,” said Skoufis. “Why? Because they weren’t even tracking the jobs created versus the jobs promised for each of these projects.”
According to the report, the biggest offender is Crystal Run Healthcare in Monroe, which promised to create 452 permanent jobs as part of its agreement and carved out just 109 positions.
Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson (D, Newburgh) is demanding accountability.
“For those businesses that have received taxpayer money and have not lived up to their promises for permanent jobs, the IDA must claw back the money and return it to the affected taxing authorities—to the school districts, towns and villages that are not getting their full tax benefits,” said Jacobsen.
Orange County Legislator-elect Steven Hunter, who will soon represent the Town of Newburgh, says these facts breed distrust.
“People think that these new big businesses moving into our county are bringing jobs and tax revenue for us, and when you tell them that these businesses are getting tax breaks and not living up to the promises of the tax breaks that we’re giving them, people get really frustrated,” said Hunter. “They trust in organizations like the IDA to look after us as a community and to bring in development that is actually going to help us.”
“The OCIDA currently has 39 local projects receiving incentives and less than five didn’t fully meet their original job creation goals,” said Bill Fioravanti, executive director of the IDA.” As the senator should know, we have been working closely with the monitor over the past several months to address any shortfalls and the monitor has been present when our board discussed the recapture of IDA benefits. In fact, another such discussion is on the agenda for Wednesday’s board meeting, which the monitor will also participate in. This is clearly an attempt to discredit us simply because we recently called out the unlawful actions of the monitor.”
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