Village of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss said on Thursday that criticism of the village by the Mineola School Board regarding proposed tax breaks for a mixed use residential and retail buildings at 199 Second Street tax breaks was a “poorly judged action” and the school trustees have been consistently informed of all developments in the village that included tax breaks.
“People make mistakes,” Strauss said of the school board’s criticism. “So be it.”
Strauss’ response came in the form of a letter to the school district, dated Tuesday, Dec. 2. that he read aloud on Thursday during a Board of Trustees meeting.
The letter was accompanied a three-inch document filled with exhibits of correspondence between the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency and the Mineola School District on hearings on payment-in lieu-of-taxes agreements known as PILOTs issued to past apartment projects in the Village of Mineola dating as far back as May of 2012.
Strauss specifically challenged comments made by Mineola School Board President Artie Barnett during a November hearing on the mixed project proposed by Lalezarian Developers at 199 Second Street that school officials had not been informed of proposed tax breaks for local developers. The proposed tax breaks for the Lazazarian project would place a high financial burden on school taxpayers, said Barnett, who was accompanied by Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler.
“When specifically asked whether the District had been notified of the proposal for the PILOTs as was the village, the president of the Board of Education unequivocally stated that it had not,” Strauss said regarding a comment by school board President Artie Barnett . “Well, that’s absolutely not true.”
The bottom line is that the Board of Education was in fact ‘brought on board’ by the IDA with reference to the PILOTs for the prior projects through eight separate notices and communications,” Strauss continued. “The Village spoke with the IDA with reference to these notices and communications. The Village appeared at the public hearings conducted by the IDA. The Board of Education, which claims it was denied input in the matter, was notably and unexplainably absent.”
In an interview with the Williston Times, Barnett said Strauss’ comments were aimed at distorting the issue and called on the village trustees
“This is a misdirection,” Barnett said. “They need to sit across the table from us and talk to us.”
“The problem here is that the Village of Mineola will not speak to the school board,” he added. “How about a letter sent by the Village of Mineola, not the IDA…They need to put on their big boy pants. It’s all bulls–t and I’m getting tired of it.” Barnett said during the hearing that the school district was not informed of PILOT hearings for previous Mineola apartment projects.
“Well, the hearings, actually, on the two PILOT arrangements for the Old Country Road buildings we were not notified of,” Barnett said at the Nov 12. hearing.
The Village of Mineola has approved tax breaks to several developments in Mineola that have been touted as part of the village’s master plan for developments of the village’s downtown.
Among them are two Mill Creek apartment buildings with 311 units and a Lalezarian Developers project at 250 Old Country Road,.
Mill Creek, a national developer, is currently building the 275-unit Modera Mineola on Old Country Road and recently started renting units in the Hudson House, a 36-unit apartment building for senior residents.
New Hyde Park-based Lalezarian Developers has been constructing a 315-unit apartment building at 250 Old Country Road, the site of the former KeySpan building, during the past several months.
Strauss has defended the tax breaks for promoting development in Mineola that had generated large, financial gains for the village.
Barnett said during the Nov. 12 hearing for the Lalezarian mixed use multi-story building that he opposed more tax breaks.
“We are vehemently opposed to any PILOT arrangements, and certainly any for residential development.” Barnett said during the Nov. 12 hearing.
Strauss said on Thursday that Lalezarian Developers have made a request to the IDA for tax relief, emphasizing that the village does not have jurisdiction in the decision to grant tax breaks.
He said at board meeting Wednesday that the IDA had sent Nagler at letter dated May 9, 2012 informing school officials of a public hearing on May, 25, 2012 on “financial assistance from the Agency in the form of potential exemptions or partial exemptions from real property taxes, mortgage recording taxes and sales and use taxes” to the Mill Creek project and the Hudson House project on Front Street and Roslyn Road.
Other letters provided by the village and sent by the IDA were dated June 28, 2012, July 3, 2012, Jan. 4, 2013, March 6, 2013, May 20, 2013, Aug. 1, 2013 and Dec. 11, 2013 which included lease agreements and PILOT schedules for the Mill Creek and 250 Old Country Road projects and were sent to Nagler according to the letters.
Strauss’ presentation at the board meeting was the latest in a series of heated exchanged between the village and the school board that began following the publication of a Oct. 8 letter from Barnett in the Williston Times and an accompanying news story in which Barnett criticized the Village of Mineola and IDA of reaching an agreement for tax breaks without also consulting the school board, calling the process “unfathomable.”
In a response published in the Williston Times as a letter to the editor, Strauss accused the school board of taking “cheap shots” at the village board and denied that the school board was excluded from negotiations with developers and the IDA.
“The school district was invited to participate at every step of the way,” Strauss wrote.
In his letter on Thursday, Strauss addressed the school board’s concern that the PILOT law in relation to the tax cap levy was flawed.
“While the tax cap law presents challenges to municipalities at every level, it is difficult to say that it is ‘flawed’,” Strauss said. “Its drafters appear to have clearly intended the consequences with respect to PILOTs.”
During a Nov. 20 Board of Education meeting Barnett said that the board will continue to speak against PILOT programs.
“Until the law is fixed I think the board is obligated to oppose the PILOTs,” Barnett said.
Strauss said on Thursday that the village is aware of the affects that PILOTs have on the municipalities in Mineola
“This Board was and is aware of the impact of a PILOT upon a municipality’s ability to raise its levy,” Strauss said. “Several years ago, the Village participated in a workshop sponsored by the New York Conference of Mayors which dealt specifically with the tax cap and its impacts on the tax levy and became well-versed in these issues.”
Strauss addressed concerns the school district had concerning the number of increasing children due to the additional apartments in Mineola.
“We stand by our numbers; and the Board of Education admits that it can handle the number of students we projected,” Strauss said.
During the Nov. 12 hearing Nagler addressed the Village board, concerned with an influx in the district’s students.
“The number they’re saying, we can handle that,” Nagler said during the hearing. “What if they’re wrong, then what happens?”
Strauss said on Thursday that the approved projects have helped Mineola in its Downtown Revitalization Master Plan.
“One of the principal goals of the Master Plan is to create a vibrant, walkable and accessible downtown which will contain a transit-oriented residential base to support successful businesses in the area,” Strauss said. “The Village Board is committed to that goal. We believe that the projects which we approved will help to get us there.”
