Yorktown tax break needs an objective review

Jann Mirchandani

The Town Board has finally assembled a committee to review the commercial development tax exemption in Yorktown.

The law provides a tax exemption on the increased value of commercial property, starting at 50% and declining over 10 years. For years, residents have requested this review, which is written into the law itself, to determine whether it's a tax giveaway or a genuine economic driver.

At the June 2 Town Board meeting, Councilman Sergio Esposito opened the discussion by saying he wants "subjective measures" included in the review. When pressed to clarify, he pointed to revenue, traffic drawn into town and business generated with other establishments.

None of these is subjective. Subjectivity reflects personal preference and can't be measured. How excited people feel about something is subjective. Revenue, traffic and business generation are quantifiable, even when they're hard to measure.

Consider a simple approach: post someone in front of the stores at Yorktown Green and the Lowe's plaza (perhaps young people looking for summer employment) to ask shoppers, "Did you visit any other stores today?" That one question yields real data on whether businesses receiving the exemption are lifting the broader local economy. As a bonus, it might also reveal how to better drive foot traffic to local businesses.

The committee can also track infrastructure investment tied to projects benefiting from the exemption, moving beyond vague estimates that it's "a lot." Traffic mitigation measures and stormwater investments are objective, countable figures. Some of that investment comes from the developer, offsetting the direct impact of their project. Some comes from taxpayers. All of this can feed into a formula that determines, within some margin of error, whether lost tax revenue is offset by economic gain.

We should also look at neighboring communities that do not have the exemption. The key question: Does Yorktown's commercial tax exemption attract development that wouldn't come here otherwise? If Croton, Cortlandt, Peekskill, Somers and Mount Kisco are seeing comparable development without a similar giveaway, we may be leaving money on the table, and that shortfall gets made up by taxpayers.

The genuinely subjective question is whether the development receiving the exemption is the kind of development we actually want. Should we grant the same tax break to a project that clears trees for new construction as to one that improves an existing building and enhances a hamlet center?

We all have our own answer to that. The residents who have spent years pushing for this review certainly do. The question is whether the committee, and the board that convened it, is willing to test theirs.

Jann Mirchandani is a candidate for Yorktown Town Supervisor.