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Thread: What happens when the warehouse is empty ?

  1. #1
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    What happens when the warehouse is empty ?

    Tops warehouse on Genesee Road could be empty soon !

    After years of IDA tax breaks - lowered assessments, property tax breaks and promises of increased employment ! After even changing emergency response rules for them - ambulances must shut down sirens as they approach facility so as not to alarm residents at the frequency of injuries occurring there. The Tops parent Company is looking to move out and take some employees/jobs with them !

    So, just for yucks - lets break down what would happen next, if they moved out.

    The new owners would undoubtedly look for more tax incentives. Probably a lower assessment, IDA tax breaks and so on.

    So we tax paying home owners would be looking at subsidizing another corporate welfare move. This is what we get with these type buildings - its just one big empty food cooler. We will have to keep handing out tax subsidized corporate welfare to get new tenants. Another great Legacy Land Mark for the Giza/Stempniak Building Era. The gift that keeps on taking !

    Oh how the Town Board fought off tax paying residents who didn't want that monstrosity ! It was gonna help stabilize our tax base and share the tax load ! It was gonna produce endless jobs for locals.

    They were in such a hurry to push this through - they allowed the Tops people to burry and pave over a documented Indian Long House site.

    Like the Oldest known home site they allowed to be torn down and removed on Harris Hill Road for the new patio homes going in over there (near Wherle). They care so much about Lancasters rich history - they will bulldoze anything that gets in their way - including Political Rivals !
    #Dems play musical chairs + patronage and nepotism = entitlement !

  2. #2
    Member Wow in lanc's Avatar
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    Do the tax bills stop for an empty building? Why would we be forced to give tax incentives to a new tenant?

  3. #3
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    I would think the tax incentives would have to be paid back. The Claw-back Clause should have been instituted long ago, when a business does not fulfill their promises when they applied for the incentives, there should be a provision in place to retrieve those abatement incentives

    For example, the Lancaster Airport received many IDA's with the promise of providing jobs employing people. They never fulfilled that obligation. They steamrolled into the Town hall making demands and expecting everything without fulfilling the obligations expected. Those IDA's are expiring, you better believe if they receive one more or renewal of those IDA's, the Lancaster residents will become vocal again.

    As for the Tops warehouse, the questions need to asked at the IDA meetings or at the Town Hall board meetings.

  4. #4
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    This, if it happens should be watched carefully - it would educate people as to how all this really works.

    When a property owner receive a "Assessment Reduction" - that reduction isn't tied to anything other than it reduces taxes owed.

    Like when the assessor went to the school and negotiated them taking less from Tops - that's tied to nothing - no claw back - no guarantee of any sort - just we lose - they win !

    When a IDA deal is based on "hiring" or "employment levels" - all they have to do is move and there's nothing to "claw back" - or as Tops has and is doing - they hire and lay off - so the number play in their favor.

    Most of what you hear is fluff and unenforceable in the real world - how many times have you heard of a factual case where millions were "Clawed Back" once given. Show me once where one company that moved or failed to produce its numbers in Lancaster paid us back !

    Yes, our new Supervisor is trimming the fat - the LIDA needs to go !
    #Dems play musical chairs + patronage and nepotism = entitlement !

  5. #5
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Yes, our new Supervisor is trimming the fat - the LIDA needs to go !
    They all need to go. Maybe just have one Erie County wide IDA that works on bringing companies that pull income into the community. Not retail, strip malls and buildings like that. I mean more like head quarter moves and companies that produce a product and ship it out of state. I would never give an incentive to a business that would locally compete with businesses already in Erie County.

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