You have to give the Seneca Nation credit. They are building a $19 million dollar high quality Golf course in Lewiston, called Hickory Stick. They are doing it as a separate and taxable corporation on taxable land and not on tax free Nation land. Unfortunately, like any other big corporation, they went to our NiagaraCountyIDA to get an "IDA TAX CUT PILOT". The PILOT was passed by the Project Review Committee and is set to have a public Hearing on Friday May 18
th at 3:30 pm in the LewistonTown Hall. Total benefit to the Seneca golf course $1.6 million dollars over 5 years.
If you are concerned about the high cost of Property & School taxes in NiagaraCounty, then one of the root causes is the NiagaraCountyIDA. They rarely see a Tax break for big business they do not like. While small retail business's that actually employ the most people get no PILOTS.
In our average communities a $1 million dollar PILOT TAX CUT to a business means $500,000 to $600,000 less money to the local School district to keep School taxes lower (50 to 60%); The county share is roughly 30% or $300,000 in lost property tax revenue plus additional sales tax loss; The local Town or city will lose around 10 to 20% or $100,000 in lost revenue that could have kept property taxes lower.
NiagaraCounty is the Highest Taxed county in the State in proportion to assessed value of property. Homeowners pay 2.8 to 3 % o fair assessed value in property taxes while friends of the IDA pay 1.4% or less in Property taxes over the life of the PILOT.
Imagine if you could build a new $200,000 home in Niagara county and instead of paying close to $6,000 annually in property taxes, you spent only half of that or $3,000 annually for the first 10, 15 or 25 years. That is what the IDA does for a few selected businesses and Industries. While many other businesses pay 3% in Property taxes; plus all the other taxes and still grow.
That means the property and school taxes rates for homeowners and small business stays higher as we pick up the share that Big business is not paying.
In addition, the IDA denies the County needed sales tax revenue to help fund County's share of Medicaid for our local hospitals and Nursing Homes. IDA PILOT agreements also give BIG business 2 more huge tax breaks; No Sales Tax on construction Costs and no Mortgage tax on Million dollar loans to fund the business.
The Seneca Corporation that is building the Hickory Stick golf course in Lewiston is not only getting a 1.1 million dollar property tax break over the first 5 years, but will save an estimated $522,000 in sales taxes on the cost of construction. This is a $19 Million dollar investment that would of been built anyway for the customers of the Casino. Why did the IDA give away money needed for School Budgets, Town Budgets, and County budgets??
Part of the reason, is that the guidelines under which the IDA operates allows a large range of Tax giveaways. The problem is the IDA almost always gives away the maximum allowed under the rules they have. The Problem is the rule book needs to be changed. The only way to do that is to replace the IDA with a new board from a broader cross section of the community. Small Business people know that you can not give every customer a 50 to 70% discount off fair retail prices and expect to stay in business. Nor can you be in business very long charging one set of customers twice as much as you do others.
I support Smart, Fair Economic Development; This IDA operates on "give it all away at all cost" mentality instead of a "Fair Deal" mentality ( i.e. maximum 30% Tax discount). This IDA is insulated from the Taxpayers and they feel they can do what ever they want with no oversight or restriction.
IDA Reform is most easily started by Replacing the Niagara County IDA Board in its entirety with a new slate of small business and community minded individuals thatknow the difference between a fair deal and an outrageous corporate give away.