Tax Breaks for Student Housing???

[Linda_D]

Here's a link to a Buffalo Snooze article on the requests from a local company for tax breaks to build student housing in Amherst and Orchard Park: Student Housing.

I'm NOT necessarily opposed to IDA tax breaks but it depends on the project. The purpose of these tax incentives is to create permanent jobs, not to shuffle jobs around the county or to create a bunch of temporary construction jobs. There is absolutely justification for Amherst or Orchard Park to give these incentives for these projects. They are taxpayer ripoffs. If the developer can't get financing, that's generally a sign that bankers/investors don't think his project will be successful.

[WNYresident]

The IDA crew will skim a little for the project to pay their "operational" cost.

[therising]

The IDA crew will skim a little for the project to pay their "operational" cost.

Are you referring to the fee the IDA charges, or are you saying that individuals on the IDA actually "skim" money off this?

[therising]

The developer's excuse is lame:

Part of the argument for tax incentives is that some Erie County residents are electing to attend school at Niagara County Community College because that college offers student housing, while ECC does not. The county is on the hook for paying NCCC a "charge-back" fee for Erie County students who attend the out-of-county college. That fee eventually shows up on the tax bill of town residents.

That charge could be reduced or eliminated if Erie Community College offered its own housing options, ECC leaders say. They have promoted the private complexes as necessary for the stability and future growth of the college.

They use a similar type of twisted logic when they go for tax breaks for Senior Housing - In that case, they say "these people (the seniors) would be getting STAR exemptions anyway, if they still lives at home...." (In other words, give us the tax breaks instead of the seniors.)

[WNYresident]

Are you referring to the fee the IDA charges, or are you saying that individuals on the IDA actually "skim" money off this?

You KNOW exactly what I mean. The fees the IDA charges for services rendered. If no tax breaks are given they have nothing to do and no revenue. Correct?

[therising]

You KNOW exactly what I mean. The fees the IDA charges for services rendered. If no tax breaks are given they have nothing to do and no revenue. Correct?

Ummm, yeah. Just like any other organization - if they don't collect revenue, they can't keep the lights on.
But, when you repeatedly use a phrase like "The IDA crew will skim a little," your wording makes it seem as if something shady is going on.

[WNYresident]

Ummm, yeah. Just like any other organization - if they don't collect revenue, they can't keep the lights on.
But, when you repeatedly use a phrase like "The IDA crew will skim a little," your wording makes it seem as if something shady is going on.

I see a group of people "skimming" off the tax payers. The developers who push for incentives and the people who do the paper work for the incentives. If your revenue depended on pushing incentives through I bet you would be pushing each and every one you could.

Technically it is not shady at all.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

The developer's excuse is lame:

Part of the argument for tax incentives is that some Erie County residents are electing to attend school at Niagara County Community College because that college offers student housing, while ECC does not. The county is on the hook for paying NCCC a "charge-back" fee for Erie County students who attend the out-of-county college. That fee eventually shows up on the tax bill of town residents.

The question I have is who in the hell did that agreement and how does Erie County get out of it?

[Linda_D]

The question I have is who in the hell did that agreement and how does Erie County get out of it?

If you are talking about charge backs, it's state law. The idea was to encourage all the counties to support a local community college, either individually or in conjunction with a neighboring county, so that all state residents have access to at least a two-year public college within commuting distance. There are a number of community colleges supported by more than one county: Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Jamestown, Mohawk Valley, and North Country are some that I'm familiar with.

I believe that counties supporting CCs can opt out of paying charge-backs, but then other counties won't pay them charge-backs. The only county that I know of that doesn't pay charge back is Suffolk, which at the very end of Long Island, probably doesn't get many students from other counties. I believe that if a county doesn't support any local community college, it can't opt out of charge-backs. I think that Allegany County doesn't have its own CC, and doesn't support any CC jointly. I think it's just too poor and empty.

It would be stupid for Erie County to opt out of charge-backs as it gets many more students from neighboring counties than leave to go to other counties. NCCC has campuses in Sanborn and Niagara Falls, which are harder to get to for many NT students than ECC North. ECC South gets many more students from northern Cattaraugus County than the number of students from southern Erie County who attend JCC, either Olean or Jamestown campus. The same with Erie County and Genessee County.

If students are opting for other counties, it's likely that underfunding ECC (which results in limiting classes offered) or constant talk of closing the North and/or South Campuses is more of a culprit than lack of student housing. This proposed student housing is NOT college-controlled housing, meaning that it might or might not be restricted to registered students. In college housing, students who withdraw from all their classes, who are not full time students, or who may be dismissed/suspended for bad behavior, etc, have to leave the residence halls. That's not necessarily true of private college housing.

Moreover, is there really a need for this housing? A former apartment complex on Eggert not far from ECC North has been converted to private student housing in the last couple of years. Maybe there's a need for some near ECC South but there are a lot of apartments in complexes and in private homes around ECC North.

[WNYresident]

But you are paying little in the way of taxes you can sit on them until they are rented... correct?