Skoufis urges Orange County IDA to claw back unused tax breaks

Orange County is being pushed to take back tax breaks from projects that missed the jobs they promised, starting with a Monroe deal tied to Crystal Run Healthcare and Optum. State Sen. James Skoufis said the county Industrial Development Agency should use its expanded authority to claw back incentives after OCIDA terminated the CRH Realty III PILOT on Jan. 21.

Skoufis made the case in a June 12 letter to state-appointed monitor Brian Sanvidge, arguing that taxpayers should not keep subsidizing projects that fell short on employment. A November 2025 monitor report identified 17 Orange County IDA projects that failed to meet employment goals tied to PILOT agreements, but OCIDA has moved to terminate or seek repayment from only three of them: CRH Realty III, CRH Realty VIII and Glen Arden.

The agency’s February 2025 policy sets the trigger for benefit recapture at 85% of a project’s employment requirement. That left several underperforming projects below target but still outside the threshold for automatic clawback, a distinction that has become central to the fight over whether the IDA is enforcing its deals or looking the other way. CRH Realty VIII and Glen Arden both saw their PILOTs expire at the end of 2025.

Glen Arden is the most complicated case, with a pending sale, bond refinancing and a plan to repay taxing jurisdictions that had not received PILOT payments in recent years. In Monroe, OCIDA already ended the CRH Realty III agreement, giving Skoufis his clearest example of what enforcement can look like when the county decides to act.

Bill Fioravanti, OCIDA’s president, said the agency has been in discussions with Sanvidge for months and takes applicant commitments seriously. He said the agency is prepared to use clawbacks or other action when required, and also said OCIDA has been working with the monitor to build a tracking system that would flag weak employment reporting earlier.

The dispute has grown into a broader test of oversight. State lawmakers first created the monitor in 2023, with the position funded by a $250,000 annual fee charged to incentive applicants, and in May 2026 they extended Sanvidge’s term for three more years. Skoufis has said the agency operated like the “Wild West” before the monitor, while OCIDA has argued the oversight role is making it harder to recruit companies and jobs.

That clash sharpened after Sanvidge tried to veto an OCIDA Amazon package in Wawayanda for a planned fulfillment center the agency said would create more than 2,000 jobs and generate tens of millions of dollars in property tax revenue. OCIDA sued, the case is pending in State Supreme Court, and the outcome will help show whether clawbacks become a real consequence for missed promises or just another layer of review.