BILL NUMBER: S8395

SPONSOR: RYAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to waiving school
taxes by a town, city, or county industrial development agency

 
PURPOSE:

This purpose of this bill is to prevent town, city, or county IDAs from
waiving taxes that would otherwise go to a school district.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 creates a new section 889 of the General Municipal Law which
dictates that town, city, or county industrial development agencies may
not waive any taxes or enter into an agreement for payment in lieu of
taxes if such taxes would otherwise be received by the school district.

Section 2 is the effective date.

              

 
EXISTING LAW:

None.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The stated purpose of industrial development agencies, or IDAs, is to
incentivize economic development by attracting businesses and creating
new jobs. The incentives offered by IDAs often include the waiving of
all or some state or local taxes, including those taxes that would have
otherwise been received by the local school district or districts.

IDAs have been around since 1969, and since that time, they have offered
billions of dollars of incentives large multi-national corporations. The
only data the state receives regarding job creation and economic bene-
fits as a result of IDA activity is self-reported by the corporations,
and their exact effectiveness in this area is unknown.

The past two years have been very challenging for students and educators
alike. New York State is experiencing a teacher shortage, and many
schools lack the resources to attract and retain educators.  State offi-
cials have estimated that NYS will need 180,000 new teachers in the next
decade.

This bill proposes a simple means of increasing funding to school
districts. While the impact of IDAs remains largely unknown, we cannot
overstate the importance of education and the impact of good teachers
and a strong school district. Preventing IDAs from waiving school taxes
will have a massive impact on our state's children, and the amount of
money is negligible to the large, multi-national corporations that bene-
fit from agreements with IDAs.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Generates additional funding for school districts.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.