“When done right, tax abatements can serve as a valuable tool to encourage economic development. It is as important today as ever, though, to ensure that these abatements continue to serve the purpose for which they were intended. Our review of the Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program (ICIP) revealed that, over time, it had devolved into an outdated program that contained wasteful elements and needed to be fixed.

“The passage today of the ICIP reform bill will help ensure that going forward, ICIP benefits will be more consistently directed only to projects that would not have happened otherwise, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade alone. By taking a hard look at this program and working with key stakeholders in the development community and State legislative leaders, we arrived at a reform package that will both maximize the return on public dollars and promote economic growth.

“I want to thank Speaker Silver and the Assembly, Senator Padavan and his colleagues, Speaker Quinn and the City Council, the Real Estate Board of New York and the Retail Council of New York State for their work to reshape the program.”