Richard St. Paul, Louis Trangucci and Albert Tarantino, the three Republican members of the New Rochelle City Council have made a home rule request of New Rochelle’s four Albany lawmakers — State Senators Jeff Klein and Suzi Openheimer and State Assembly Representatives Amy Paulin and George Latimer — requesting their assistance in “the drafting and filing of State legislation under Home Rule provisions to allow the City of New Rochelle to have full power to approve the New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency (IDA) decisions as it relates to granting benefits to IDA applicants.”
The request mirrors a similar request made by Mayor Noam Bramson in June regarding the New Rochelle Armory.
The letter cites the finding in recent audit of the New Rochelle IDA by the New York State Comptroller that the IDA has failed to do a cost-benefit analysis of
proposed projects.
“One of the main purposes of the IDA is to provide incentives to applicants to attract them to the City in hopes of providing a long term benefit to the City,” the three councilmen wrote. “Without a cost-benefit analysis everyone from the IDA, School Board, City Council and citizens are unable to determine the true value of any proposed project.”
The councilman call on the lawmakers for legislation that will require City Council approval of the granting of benefits by the New Rochelle IDA as is the case in Yonkers.
The letter closes by noting that the New Rochelle City Council is likely to hold a meeting in early August during which the council can consider a Home Rule resolution and thus provide an opportunity for both houses of the state legislature to act before the end of the current legislative session.