Skoufis: Woodbury Common to pay full property taxes on retail expansion

Originally published in The Chronicle on .
A rendering of the new Woodbury Common outlet (Photo: The Chronicle)

Woodbury. The retail location recently announce big changes, including a hotel and additional stores.

 

State Sen. James Skoufis (D-42) announced that Woodbury Common will forgo a payment in lieu of taxes from the Orange County IDA and instead pay full property taxes on their proposed retail expansion.

The senator’s support for the expansion, according to an Oct. 3 press release from his office, was contingent on this concession, which includes a requirement to use local construction labor. The project is due to create 770 new permanent jobs as well as over 1,600 construction jobs on-site.

“I want to thank Woodbury Common for coming to the table and engaging in a professional, intelligent discussion on incentives,” said Skoufis. “For every tax dollar that’s generated from this retail expansion, that’s one less dollar that has to come from local residents to fund our municipalities and schools, making this agreement a major win for the community. This is what smart economic development looks like.”

The senator’s office said that after Woodbury Common initially expressed interest in applying for property tax breaks from the Orange County IDA, he met with the outlet mall’s executive team and, with the support of Woodbury Town Supervisor Tom Burke and Village Mayor Andrew Giacomazza, a resolution was negotiated that respects taxpayers and ensures the project, upon securing local approvals, will be a major financial contributor to the village, town, school district, and county.