ALBANY – “Some in the Orange County Legislature can saber-rattle all they’d like about the proposal to create a state monitor to reign in the Orange County IDA,” Senator James Skoufis (D, Cornwall) said on Monday. “At the end of the day, my job is to protect the best interests of residents and taxpayers, and that’s exactly what I plan to do with this proposal.”
The county legislature is slated to vote Tuesday in opposition to the senator’s proposal to appoint a monitor to have veto power over county Industrial Development Agency’s decisions.
“That’s why so many municipal leaders and school board presidents; unions like CSEA, CWA, NYSUT, and UUP; and our partners at Alliance for Quality Education, American Economic Liberties Project, Good Jobs First, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, Reinvent Albany, and Strong Economy For All have all come out in strong support of this important proposal,” Skoufis said.
The senator maintains the IDA continues a “documented pattern of wasteful deal-making that deprives our communities and school districts of vital tax revenue, assigning these new oversight measures is a necessary and fiscally responsible decision.”
He said the “message is clear: despite repeated pleas from many local stakeholders, the agency has refused any sort of self-correction and it’s time for New York State to step in.”
