Subsidy Sheet: Corporate handouts take away education funding, and NY schools are noticing

Corporate handouts take away education funding, and NY schools are starting to notice. A local paper for Riverhead, NY (Long Island) notes that property tax exemptions there cost the town $2.7 million in 2022 – at a time when the school district is badly in need of space.

An attorney for the Riverhead school district points out that long-term Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) subsidy agreements can last longer than kids are even in school. “With 25 years, the district wouldn’t be looking at full taxes until the kids who move in the first day this apartment is built … are already graduated from college and working.”

Riverhead schools are not alone, and a bill from the state legislature’s economic development chairs (S89 (Ryan) / A351 (Bronson)) would bar Industrial Development Agencies from waiving local taxes funding schools. Ryan and Bronson are Democrats, but local State Senator Palumbo, a Republican, says he would vote for the bill, and was unaware that schools were losing so much to PILOT agreements like those in Riverhead.

Other NY corporate giveaway news: 

Fun Fact: Fossil fuels are being subsidized at the rate of $13 million a minute, according to the International Monetary Fund.

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