NY Governor Andrew Cuomo
ALBANY – Industrial development agencies across the state will soon be able to claw back tax breaks if businesses don’t follow through on the promise of new jobs.
On Friday Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill implementing a series of new requirements for the agencies, often known as IDAs, which have the ability to grant local tax incentives for economic-development projects and businesses who pledge to create jobs in a particular county or municipality.
The new law, which takes effect in six months, will require each of the state’s 109 IDAs to adopt a uniform application and contract for the tax breaks. The contract is required to have a measure that allows the agency to claw back the incentives if a business moves, folds or doesn’t deliver on the jobs it pledged to create.
The bill was penned by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who has long scrutinized the IDAs and the lucrative tax breaks they offer.
IDAs essentially serve as the economic-development branch of local governments, often offering payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements and other incentives to new or expanding businesses.
In 2013, IDAs in New York doled out incentives worth a net total of $660 million, according to a report from DiNapoli’s office.
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