Schools talk ‘potential inequities’ for taxpayers from Green Acres Mall PILOT

Officials from all four Valley Stream school districts met at a joint Boards of Education meeting on Aug. 31 to discuss the impact of the Green Acres Mall’s tax exemption on local school taxes this year.

The Central High School District budget is funded so that each elementary district has to pay an apportionment based on the taxable property in its district. The Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency recently granted the Green Acres Mall a $14 million tax exemption in the form of PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxes, which will reduce the amount of taxable property for District 30. As the taxable property shrinks, so will District 30’s funding of the Central High School District budget, and it’s likely that taxpayers in District 13 and District 24 will have to make up the shortfall.

Officials met to discuss the section of state education law that requires this of centralized school districts, and its relevance to this year’s school tax levy.

“We met to discuss the impact of PILOTs and potential inequities for each district and the community at large,” said District 24 Superintendent Ed Fale. “Discussions will continue at each component board. The boards have to individually continue discussion on what they believe is the best course of action for each district, the taxpayers and community.”

The Town of Hempstead IDA issued the exemption for Green Acres Mall earlier this year to help foster economic growth in the area, which changes how the school district must calculate its allowable tax levy limit. 

“The job of the IDA is to provide tax incentives to provide economic growth and enhance job recruitment,” Fred Parola, executive director of the Town of Hempstead IDA, said in May. “The board voted unanimously to provide those benefits … obviously this is a major facility, and one that is undergoing a tremendous overhaul, with new stores, new jobs, and the board discerned that this is why we’re here.”

Central High School District Bill Heidenreich said that the boards would continue to communicate with their respective communities in the coming weeks.

“No one has done anything wrong — this is just the outcome of the law,” he said, noting that the districts learned of the tax exemption only after they began developing the 2016-17 budget.

“People are saying District 30 shouldn’t be doing this — it’s not within 30’s control,” he said, adding “if District 30 wanted to send up more [money], they’d risk litigation.”