Westchester is one step closer to having a local development corporation (LDC).
Two committees, Legislation and Government, approved the creation of the LDC, setting the stage for the Board of Legislators to formally approve it April 15.
An LDC issues tax-free, low-interest bonds to nonprofit organizations. County Executive Robert P. Astorino created an LDC in January 2012 after the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency lost bonding power in 2008.
The LDC has held meetings and approved several projects, despite legislators voting against the LDC, claiming it gave Astorino too much power.
Astorino fought back, claiming in a legal opinion by his bond counsel that he did not need their approval. The LDC will have seven board seats including a seat each for the legislature’s majority and minority leaders, plus a seat for a labor representative.
The new LDC”™s powers are limited to assisting capital projects undertaken by not-for-profit corporations by the issuing bonds and other financial obligations or refinancing bonds originally issued by the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York for not-for-profit corporations.
The LDC “will help our not for profits with the capital projects they need to thrive, projects that will put our long-unemployed building trades people back to work,” Legislator MaryJane Shimsky said in a statement.
