GCEDC board passes tax breaks for COR Development unanimously

What a shock!

Ok, so a few things I would like to ask here.

First, I keep seeing COR being thanked for all they have done. Is COR donating all of the materials or something? What I see is a private company that is making a profit to come into a community and build. Also, they have to pay less taxes to do it. They are not saints, they are businessmen and women, who are using a system to lower their costs.

But wait!!! They've brought in all of this new money!!! Making all of lives better!!!

So let me ask this: Has anyone's property taxes gone down because of the vast amount of sales tax income that has been added? I mean, with all of this bounty of wealth, which "reduces the burden on every business, farm and resident in Genesee County", why haven't we seen some kind of reduction?

Second, Mr. Vincent says that we all need to be educated better as to what the GCEDC does. Alright then sir! You tell me the time (Hopefully after 4pm, you know cause we work) and place, and I will be there to learn all about what you do!

Ladies and Gentlemen, if this sort of thing bothers you, then it's time to do something about it. I have long heard that it's all a state and federal thing, and that we can never change it here. For too long we have allowed things to be a top-down society. We have been made to think that we are powerless.

I say it's enough.

You start by finding local representatives who will stand against the status broken quo.

Is that you? If so, come forward!

Legislator Stein said "New York's high tax rates makes such incentives necessary"

So instead of changing what you perceive to be a problem, you perpetuate the game by giving these additional tax breaks. Ever wonder why people choose to leave NY? You'd think it to be the weather; no, it's the taxes and the politics.

Oh, and there's " Board Member Jim Vincent said that clearly the public doesn't understand what GCEDC does"

Yeah, I know Mr. Vincent. Stupid people. Don't they know that's how the game is played? Poor, ignorant slobs, what do they know? God, I hate when dumb morons like me question the need for all this smoke and mirror BS, even though I'm fairly intelligent and know a shell game when I see one. Maybe you should educate me, Mr. Vincent. Enlighten me to why this makes sense. Explain to me how capitalism benefits from pre-determined winners and losers. I'm just a community college graduate, so forgive me for my lack of understanding such complicated financial affairs. I, along with the other peons, need to be taught.

Hear, Hear Phil! Good comment, Bud
I too would attend an "educational" (Orwell anyone?) session so's I can learn me some of them there wonderful benefits the GCEDC is bringing us. I'm obviously too thick to recognize it on my own.

con·de·scend·ing
/ˌkändəˈsendiNG/
Adjective

Acting in a way that betrays a feeling of patronizing superiority.
(of an action) Demonstrating such an attitude.

Synonyms
patronizing - gracious

They didn't listen to the people ... or the ones I heard comments from in recent news. People remember this! They are not representing you!

I. for one, am pleased to see our IDA sending more of our tax dollars out of town to benefit a mulit-million dollar corporation, and misusing both the letter and intent of the law in doing it.

Here is an idea. How do we the people go about getting an injunction on this blatant misuse of our tax dollars?

Phil, I'm in with you and Dave for a meeting with GCEDC.

Of course it will never happen. By reading these comments (which I'm sure they do) they will realize that can't blow smoke up our a**es. Smoke and mirrors cannot hide the fact that they give away our tax dollars with NO accountability.

Please read:

http://thebatavian.com/bob-harker/gcedc-and-hotels-windows/24274

It's amazing Bob, 2 years and here we are still

Phil is right the only way to rein this bunch in and thereby bringing all our taxes down is by electing legislators who will do so.

Yep,they can't even fill the plaza they have-storefront has remained vacant(never been filled) since plaza was built-let's give them some more tax breaks,in the HOPE they can get someone to fill the Lowe's space. Remember all the hoopla about Bass Pro coming to the Buffalo Harbor? What happens after a couple years(hopefully longer than Lowe's) if Dick's decides they made the wrong decision opening a store in a not-so-big retail market and decide to pack up and leave?Will COR refund all the tax breaks and incentives they were given??? And I bet the whole board of the GCEDC will give themselves a raise and a pat on the back this year.Yeah,and name the other three "possible" tenants now that they got their package deal-let me guess-a liquor store,a clothing store,and maybe a restaurant/coffee shop/bakery genre.......

Legislator Shelly Stein, who sits on the GCEDC board, praised COR for all it's done for local schools and the community by generating new tax revenue.....

What school district is Stine talking about..........The local people said no we didn't want it...Why do they bother having a meeting..The poll on the Batavain said 75% disapprove..Shame on all of those on this board.I like the rest want to know when this educational class on how great the GCEDC is..Where do we sign up. ............................. Board Member Jim Vincent said that clearly the public doesn't understand what GCEDC does.. Really Mr.Vincent maybe it is GCEDC that doesn't understand what the public wants..I think its the GCEDC that need to be educated........Pretty quite on the county legislator front.... Glad to see that Ms.Hancock is not running for office..Another politician who doesn't listen to the voting pubic.. When these so called leaders of county government come knocking on your door this fall asking for your vote ,tell them no way ,

I can't believe this big corp. gets tax breaks, yet Batavia Marine, Hunters Landing, Fisher Sports get nothing AND their taxes fund their competition, multi-million dollar Dick's sporting goods. The GCEDC has to go!! Handing out our money to all kinds of new business's, rarely supporting existing business's and collecting big pay and bonuses to do it!
ABSOLUTELY F'ING RIDICULOUS !!!

We the people need to exercise our power at the polls to elect responsible county legislators who will terminate the GCEDC and do everything rationally possible to lower taxes for EVERYONE!!! There are several county legislator seats up for election in November - let's find some candidates who clearly understand what the public is enduring and are willing to step in as game changers. Enough of the self-justifying bureaucratic gamesmanship. We need and WANT representation who are willing to work on solving the problems not perpetuating the myth that government control is the answer to all life's problems. It is clearly not and its current incarnation is a burden to society. It can be better, but it takes people willing to work to make it better.

Isn't it interesting that Gerardi, the self-proclaimed one of five partners of the wonderfully magnanimous COR Development, cannot take the time to answer questions by local citizens after receiving another cool million dollar break to operate and make money on our turf. Splendid doing business with you! I'm sure your CEO will have lots of misleading numbers to throw our way if he even acknowledges our existence.

I was elated to see my City and County tax bill arrive yesterday. Perfect timing! Genesee County has a hefty $15M total tax levy on my bill (I'm not entirely sure how it works as the county has been reporting around $25M total for years so I think the $15M is just the city of Batavia contribution). That's even larger than the NYS Medicaid Mandate and 3 times higher than the city's total tax levy! And for what? We can't repair our own county bridges - we had to put that work on hold until the state graciously coughs up money. Park Road has been in need of repair for years and that's just mere yards away from the Batavia Town Center - great for business, showcasing the community, and attracting tourists! Total assessments and the tax rate both increased in 2012. But COR Development was still getting relief with the cornerstone Lowe's store in Batavia City Center employing exactly no one and generating exactly no sales tax revenue. And the GCEDC and their wonderful deals are making things better?

Here's a fun fact: in a 2012 statement (http://www.fiscaladvisors.com/statements/110112-geneseecounty-OS-500000…) Genesee County Government was noted as the second largest employer in the county with 750 estimated employees (later in the report 847 county employees were counted)!!! It was second only to Darien Lake Theme Park Resort which had an estimated 2,000 employees (oh yeah, 84 of them are full time with the balance being seasonal). Two of the other top 6 employers in the county were BOCES and Batavia City Schools! 7th on the list was Hanson Aggregates with approximately 2/3 of its 400 employees being non-county residents!

Government is proportionally too large a portion of our economy and is leading us into a state of complete dependence. Imagine the tax burden a few years from now, trying to sell your house in a market with negligible wealth generation, and with little hope for employment in anything other than retail, government, or Batavia Downs (which in effect is government as well). Thank goodness for Batavia Downs! But really, how much entertainment are we going to be able to afford with nothing but spiraling infrastructure costs ahead? There is no plan that I am aware of to solve the problem by reducing cost and attracting true wealth producing business in the area. Further development of Batavia Town Center is not the answer. What happens when Target bails out? Or Dick's finds the revenue and margin just isn't there? Or Penney's decides to close shop? Or people finally can't afford to go to the casino? What about all the other vacant sites down Main St. in Batavia and in the other villages and towns in the county? Batavia Town Center isn't unique - it's just another bunch of bricks with just as much probability of failure as every other retail site in the county. Giving it a break isn't doing a thing for us...well except for costing us real money to fund the GCEDC.

When someone has a plan to ADD millions of sales tax revenue or ADD real full time jobs for county residents or better yet ADD THOUSANDS of product generating jobs in the county then we'll really have something! A couple hundred low wage yogurt packagers are not game changers nor are any number of retail employees. Peanut butter spreading the stagnate spending power in the county isn't going to cut it. The only way to improve is to lower the cost of doing business and living in the community for everyone!

That much, even I can understand - no lecture necessary!

Great points Bob....you are right on this ..

COR comes begging for a 1.7 million dollars tax break..Gets it and then has no time to answer a reporters question..I call that arrogant...Maybe Ms.Hancock can answer for COR..Since she seems to be working for Mr.Hyde and the GCEDC..She sure doesn't represent the tax paying public..She raises our taxes and forgives million dollar companies like COR of there property taxes...Taxation without representation..When Mr.Hyde can award these tax abatement's and we as the public have no power to vote him out ,we have no representation..We can not vote on any one on the GDCEC board..We have no representation..

I'm wondering if Hancock will be on the GCEDC board.

Mark,
There are many boards, appointed or approved by elected officals. If you can not vote on the board, then vote out the legislators who refused to reform it.

I know polls on here are unscientific but the exact same question was asked yesterday and on April 17th. By the results, public opinion in favor of the tax breaks was warming slightly:

http://thebatavian.com/howard-owens/todays-poll-should-cor-development-…

http://thebatavian.com/howard-owens/todays-poll-should-cor-receive-new-…

Add that to the number of empty seats in the picture of the public meeting on the issue in this post:

http://thebatavian.com/howard-owens/tax-breaks-reuse-lowes-space-essent…

All it takes for a politician is one small glimmer of momentum or voter apathy and....

Jeff,

It went from 77% no to just under 75% no. You really can't get much more "slightly" than that. As far as the empty seats, you're right. I wish there could've been more people, but I flatly refuse to allow that to be the only reason why it was patently ignore.

There have literally been hundreds of people who have expressed opposition in one form or another, and such an absense of support that to try and justify a "warming" is not only unfounded, but ridiculous.

Regardless, it's done, and now is the time for those who are dissatisfied to begin to move, instead of allowing it to continue.

I agree with Phil. I was one who planed on going , but other things came up. Our opposition has to be focused on the legislature. But unfortunately, only one incumbent who supports this kind of stuff has an opponent, DeJanerio.

What's FUBO?

Some really great points above. Bob Brown especially, well done my friend. I think most people see through the charade. Mr. Vincent actually means... we need to do a better job of re-educating the public. This project and most retail projects which receive incentives like this are set up for failure. When you reduce the overhead costs of a business for a short time, you create an environment that is artificial. It's not much different than once a person is on government assistance, it is rarely temporary. Corporate welfare is welfare, after all, and is not typically a path to self-sufficiency. A local, small businessperson in Genesee County told me that they could apply for this type of abatement and then could hire 1 or 2 people, but then would have to increase revenue enough to cover their employment when the tax break ends, and they just didn't feel secure enough that that would be the case. This ethical businessperson feels that would be highly unfair to the employee to do that and then lay them off. That's someone who cares about doing the right thing, Frankly, even though I'm opposed to all government subsidies across the board; that's what these deals are designed for, to help get a business rolling. Unfortunately, not everyone is all that ethical, especially large chain stores. Some are, of course. When the artificially lower overhead costs (taxes) begin to rise, having that store makes less and less sense. Dick's, I've heard is becoming more of a clothing store. Target's deal is beginning to wind down. Can both survive? Or are we going to have to ante up again in 2 years? This is going to be a vicious cycle, I'm afraid for years to come. We have to slam the lid on Pandora's box.

Thanks Howard. Embarrassing

John i agree on your point of voting them out...There may be many unelected boards out there in the land of government.But this one has the power of tax forgiveness.Which to me should make it an elected board by the voting public..We can no long trust our elected officials to do what we the voter wants..

If any on the county legislature had any self worth they would come out in public an express their displeasure at the corporate sales and retail tax abatement COR received..Instead they choose to keep silent..Just like the owner of COR does when ask to be interviewed by a reporter.......

What's wrong with "Forget U Barack Obama" ? :>)

Thanks Dave, not embarrassed anymore.

We can do something, boycott the retail stores.