Board To Cuomo: Consider Station For Investment Program

Gov. Andrew Cuomo

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

The Huntington Town Board is asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include two portions of Huntington Station as part of a federal program to generate private investment in low- to moderate-income communities.

The board approved unanimously last week a resolution that named Huntington Station census tract 1109.02 as the town’s top priority, and census tract 1110.02 as the second highest priority for the federal Opportunity Zone designation.

The first area is bounded north-south by the Big H and Pulaski Road and east-west by New York Avenue and Oakwood Road. It has a poverty rate of 14.8 percent and an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent.

The second area is bounded north-south by Crooked Hill Road and Pulaski Road and east-west by Park Avenue and New York Avenue. It has a poverty rate of 26.7 percent and unemployment of 10.6 percent.

The two areas are among the three census tracts within in the Town of Huntington — and each with Huntington Station that qualify for the program.

Nearly 15,000 people, or 7.2 percent of the town’s population, live in these lower income areas, according to 2010 census data.

The Opportunity Zones program was established in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts of 2017 and is designed to encourage private investment in low to moderate-income communities by establishing for private investors tax benefits on unrealized capital gains within the communities without the use of tax credits or public funds.

Instead, Opportunity Funds allow investors to pool their resources and increase the “scale of investments going to underserved areas,” according to information from Empire State Development, one of the state agencies that Cuomo has tasked with researching and outlining all possible Opportunity Zones.

Cuomo has the option to nominate anywhere from 25 to around 625 census tracts for approval from the Treasury Department; there are around 2,500 eligible tracts in the state, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Cuomo must submit no later than April 20 his list of nominees to the treasury department, which will review and approve Cuomo’s list.

Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci, who co-sponsored the resolution with Councilwoman Joan Cergol, said any federal aid to investors would help build on the development projects, including Renaissance Downtown’s plans, which are already moving forward in Huntington Station.

Lupinacci added, “It will definitely help support and bolster the efforts that we have going on right now.”