Comptroller Thompson Seeks Transparency From IDA
January 23, 2008
City Comptroller William Thompson Jr. is seeking greater transparency and accountability from the city’s Industrial Development Agency, which provides billions of dollars in tax subsidies to help stoke economic development in New York City.
In a letter sent to the deputy mayor for economic development, Robert Lieber, Mr. Thompson said that there is “concern as to why some firms and not others are chosen to receive incentive packages.”
Mr. Thompson is asking that beneficiaries of the IDA meet living wage standards, comply with “green building standards” designed to reduce energy consumption, reduce the time required for applications and cost-benefit analyses to be made available to the public, and streamline communications between the IDA and the City Council. “IDA has taken numerous steps to enhance its programs, streamline its procedures, and make them more transparent, and we look forward to working with the comptroller to continue pursuing policies that do that,” a spokesman for the IDA said in a statement.
Source: NY Sun
Read more at the NY City Comptroller website here
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