Question of the Day: Do You Think the Revamped Tax Exemption Will Work?

The Town Board met on Thursday to begin to that proponents hope will encourage businesses to move downtown or renovate existing properties.

The exemption, called the Suffolk County Industrial/Commercial Incentive Plan (SCICI), would allow for tax breaks on the increased taxes for a business that did at least $50,000 worth of building.

For example, if a building that currently pays $50,000 in taxes makes $50,000 in renovations and the new building's taxes are assessed at $100,000, the business would receive a cut off of the difference between the two, and so would only pay $75,000 in taxes total. The amount of each tax exemption would gradually drop every year until year 10, in which the business would pay full taxes.

Do you think this incentive program will bring new businesses to downtown Riverhead? If not, what would you like to see done to encourage growth?