ANNUAL TAX REVENUES FROM THE MALL

The mall would also generate real property tax payments and non-property tax payments to local taxing jurisdictions and the state. Non-property tax payments would include sales taxes and other non-real property taxes.

Sales Tax Revenues. The annual retail sales at The Mall at Oyster Bay would generate significant sales tax revenue for Nassau County, the MTA, and New York State. As indicated above, total retail sales are estimated at $420.1 million annually for the plan presented in the DEIS and $347.1 million for the revised plan (in 2000 dollars). Approximately 97 percent, or approximately $407.5 million annually for the plan presented in the DEIS and $336.7 million annually for the revised plan, is estimated to be taxable for Nassau County under the existing tax structure. The DEIS considered future sales tax both with and without the then proposed clothing exemption, which exempts clothing items and footwear sold for $110 or less. Since the DEIS was published, New York State eliminated the 4 percent state sales tax on such clothing items, which went into effect on March 1, 2000. Nassau County, however, chose not to exempt such items, and as a results, the 0.25 percent MTA tax remained in effect on such items. The analysis of the revised plan also assumes that the New York State clothing exemption on otherwise taxable sales represent 97 percent of all sales and that 50 percent of the projected shoppers goods sales are not taxable. As set forth in Table 2-6, total sales taxes generated by the plan presented in the DEIS are estimated at approximately $26.9 million per year. Total sales taxes generated by the revised plan are estimated at approximately $22.6 million per yer. This tax revenue is shared by three taxing jurisdiction and yieds $14.3 million for Nassau County, $7.4 million for New York State, and $842,000 for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Other Non-Property Taxes. In addition to the sales tax revenues, it should be noted that the retail development will generate other non-property tax revenues, including business and utility taxes, payroll taxes, and other fees accruing to New York State, the MTA, and Nassau County. Based on the projected sales, wages and salaries, employment, and total economic output summarized above, these tax revenues were estimated in the DEIS to reach $6.85 million annually (in 1998 dollars) for the plan presented in the DEIS; this amount would equal $7.18 million in 2000 dollars. For the revised plan, these taxes are estimated at $6.42 million annually in 2000 dollars, including approximately $820,000 annually for Nassau County, approximately $220,000 annually to the MTA, and approximately $5.39 million annually for New York State. As with the sales tax revenue, however, not all revenue will be new to Nassau County or the other jurisdictions. It might represent tax revenue from economic activity that would have otherwise increasingly occurred elsewhere, which the project would retain in the County or other jurisdictions. Unlike the plan presented in the DEIS, the revised plan would not generate additional revenues for the Town of Oyster Bay for the use of its adjacent property, which contains the former Syosset Landfill and the Town's Department of Public Works (DPW) Facility.

Property Taxes. The investment in improvements to the property would substantially increase the assessed value of the land and its improvements, thereby significantly increasing property tax revenues to the Town of Oyster Bay, the Syosset School District, Nassau County, and the special taxing districts. Although the actual assessed value would be determined by the County, the DEIS presented a preliminary estimate based on typical appraisal standards and comparable information from other malls in the area. Assuming the current assessment ratio and an assessed value of just under $12.20 per square foot (or a tax levy of about $8.50 per square foot), the plan presented in the DEIS yielded an assessed value of approximately $11.71 million in 1998 dollars. Using the same assumptions for the revised plan, an assessed value of approximately $10.49 million would be yielded. As shown in Table 2-7, based on the existing tax rates used in the DEIS, the project site with the plan presented in the DEIS would be expected to generate approximately $8.16 million in annual property taxes. With the revised plan, the project site would generate approximately $7.31 million annually. For the revised plan, this would include approximately $1.88 million to Nassau County, nearly $1.0 million to a variety of special tax districts, $37,000 to the Town of Oyster Bay, and approximately $4.06 million to the Syosset School District. This future revenue estimate of $7.31 million is nearly 11 times greater than the current (1998 dollars) property tax levy of $672,000, and results in a net increase of $6.6 million in property tax revenues.

Local and Municipal Costs. As shown in Table 2-1 above, the difference in demand on police, fire, and emergency services between the plan presented in the DEIS and the revised plan would be minor. Therefore, this FEIS assumes that local and municipal cost increases would be as shown in the DEIS: approximately $400,000 per year for police and $165,000 per year for fire and emergency services.

Balance of Costs and Benefits. As shown in Table 2-7, even with a smaller plan, the proposed project would generate substantial increases in property tax revenues, far outweighing the increase in local and municipal costs. Specifically, the revised plan would generate annual tax revenues of $1,028,837 for the Nassau County police. This represents an increase of $935,000 over existing and No Build conditions. The increase is more than twice the approximately $400,000 in additional costs, leaving a net increase of approximately $535,000 over the amount necessary for police services devoted to the mall. This net increase benefits the police and the community.

For fire and emergency services the pattern would be the same. The approximately $300,000 in taxes collected from the proposed project under the revised plan would represent an increase of about $273,000 from existing and no build conditions. This increase is greater than the $165,000 in additional costs that the project is conservatively estimated to incur.



Source: The Mall at Oyster Bay FEIS (May 2000)