Glen Cove's IDA tax breaks generated fewest jobs in state in 2012, says DiNapoli

Glen Cove's Industrial Development Agency tax breaks generated fewer jobs per dollar than any other IDA in the state in 2012, according to a report released Tuesday by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Five Glen Cove projects benefiting from $2.3 million in tax exemptions resulted in 48 new jobs as of 2012, or a $46,951 tax break per job, according to the report. While the exemptions are extended over several years, the jobs were measured in one year.

The average exemption per job generated in New York State was $4,828 in 2012, and the average among the eight Long Island development agencies was $2,148.

DiNapoli spokesman Brian Butry said the report, which covered the state's 112 IDAs, raises questions about what kind of tax breaks are in a community's best interest.

"You need to make sure you're doing a proper cost-benefit analysis to make sure residents are getting the bang for their buck that they expect to when they're giving out tax breaks," Butry said.

Industrial Development Agencies are quasi-public corporations created by the state legislature to subsidize economic growth through tax breaks, grants and tax-exempt bonds.

Glen Cove Deputy Mayor Barbara Peebles, who is the IDA's executive director, said she had not looked at the report and could not comment on what happened before she came into office this year. Former Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi, who was the IDA chairman in 2012, did not respond to requests for comment.

The tax exemption per job created in Babylon was $1,656 and in Brookhaven, $1,333, according to the report. Islip's exemption per job was $1,697, Riverhead's $2,456 and Hempstead's $4,772, the report showed.

Most of the total $1.9 million tax exemptions in Glen Cove were for two Avalon Bay downtown luxury apartment buildings that were supposed to create 31 jobs. In 2012, the IDA reported that the projects employed 13 people.

Kristi Barnes, spokeswoman for ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York, a labor-oriented organization and frequent critic of economic development policy, said the Avalon Bay projects skewed the numbers in Glen Cove. "It's heavily subsidized, but it's mostly housing, so it's not creating a lot of jobs, so the cost per job number is really high," Barnes said.

An Avalon Bay spokesman said the company needed to review the report before it could comment.

The Glen Cove IDA is in talks with developer Michael Puntillo about possible tax breaks on his proposed mixed-use Piazza project.

Long Island had the highest number of exemptions of any region in the state, totaling $118.1 million, according to the comptroller's report.

The Nassau County IDA awarded tax exemptions to 207 projects that resulted in a net gain of 16,996 jobs. The cost of those exemptions was $2,250 per job gained in Nassau, according the report. Suffolk's cost was reported to be $883 per job.