Roslyn Times 6.12.15

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Serving Roslyn, Roslyn Heights and Old Westbury

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Friday, June 12, 2015

Vol. 3, No. 24

SOTTO CALLS FOR SINGAS TO RETURN CONTRIBUTIONS

ROSLYN NATIVE WINS TONY

TEMPLE SINAI HAS NEW PREZ

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Maragos calls for changes in IDA’s focus

HARBORFEST

Cites lack of job creation tied to tax breaks granted in 2013 BY B I LL SAN ANTONIO Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos is calling on the county’s Industrial Development Agency to reconsider the criteria by which it grants tax breaks to businesses planning construction amid a recently issued report from the state comptroller’s office which showed that Nassau County’s tax breaks generated far fewer jobs off such projects in 2013 than in neighboring counties as well as IDA’s across the state. In a letter to IDA Executive Director Joseph J. Kearney Tuesday, Maragos wrote the agency should “review their existing job creation strategies, personnel performance and to institute appropriate changes to achieve better results” than the 1,835 jobs the state reported Nassau netted that year when the county granted $43,325,571 in net tax exemptions. “The [Nassau County Industrial Development Agency] plays an

important role in ensuring that our county remains competitive within the region by maintaining and attracting new jobs. It is disappointing that we have fallen behind in these critical areas,” Maragos wrote. Maragos in his analysis of Nassau’s IDA activity that year found the agency “appears to support smaller scale projects with less jobs potential,” suggesting it instead “favor higher quality projects that have the potential to create or retain a higher number of jobs.” In 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Nassau County IDA approved 278 projects worth more than $2.9 billion and offered businesses more than $69 million in tax exemptions, according to the state comptroller’s May 18 report. The Nassau IDA recovered just 37 percent of the exemptions through payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements with businesses, less than the 59 percent recouped by Continued on Page 51

Photo (c)2015 MARTHA GORFEIN PHOTOCONCEPTS

Attendees of the 25th annual Harborfest Crafts Fair take a boat ride Sunday off Long Island’s North Shore. See more photos on Page 50.

French knight World War II vet in D-Day observances BY B I LL SAN ANTONIO When Vincent DeMartino arrived in Europe in July of 1944 with the United States Army’s 95th Infantry Division, to join the Allied forces 90 days

after the invasion of Normandy, he was nearly sent back to America. “I’m six months shy of 90, but I was only 18 when I was in Europe. I joke about it now, but my first sergeant didn’t believe I was 18,” the longtime

Floral Park resident and Albertson V.F.W. Post 5253 past commander said. “They had to send off for my birth certificate.” Though he enlisted in the Army Reserve at age 17, Continued on Page 62

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