The Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District’s executive director, Ron Edelson, appeared at last Wednesday’s Plaza Board of Trustees meeting to present the board with the BID’s 2016-17 budget and some of its promotions for the summer season.
The BID’s total budget, Edelson said, calls for $168,398.39 in spending.
He said the BID would collect $154,000 in commercial property taxes from businesses within the district for the upcoming year.
“I don’t think that has changed for close to 20 years now, which is an unusual thing for any municipality or semi-municipal agency or entity,” Edelson said. “But we’ve never changed and have no intention, as far as I know, of ever changing it.”
He said the more than $14,000 difference in what the BID collects in property taxes and what it plans on spending is covered by money it receives in sponsorships from various entities.
The village is one of the BID’s main sponsors, Edelson said, as it donates $10,000 every year for the annual street festival.
He also said that United Capital Corp., a real estate investment and management firm located at 9 Park Place, also donates $5,000 each year for the street festival.
“We are looking to get some additional sponsorships for the street festival,” Edelson said.
On June 26, the BID will be hosting its first annual “Cultural Day,” a 10-hour event celebrating the various cultures on the peninsula.
The event, which takes place on Middle Neck Road between Grace Avenue and Maple Drive, begins at noon.
Edelson said the event would feature numerous entertainment performances, food, rides and prizes.
“To one extent, this is another street festival,” he said.
The BID will also be holding a two-week long raffle as an extension of its “Shopping Local, Shopping Smart” promotion where customers of the district’s stores can win an overnight stay in New York City and tickets to a Broadway show.
“What we’re going to be promoting is that if you shop during those two weeks, you can bring your receipts to the BID office, you can email it or scan it, or just mail it to be put into a raffle,” Edelson said.
He said that the BID board will determine specific dates for the raffle at its next meeting.
Edelson also said that merchants in the business district have offered numerous consolation prizes.
