4-25-12: Courtesy of YNN. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is looking at revamping the county’s Industrial Development Agencies. Poloncarz questions whether the tax breaks handed out by the town IDAs actually create jobs and promote real economic growth. YNN’s Kevin Jolly talked with one local restaurant owner who says without help from his town’s IDA, he wouldn’t be in business. CLARENCE CENTER, NY — Tim Smith, the owner of Clarence Pizza Company, has been serving up slices in Clarence Center for more than 20 years. Eight years ago, when he was forced to move from his old location, it was the Town’s Industrial Development Agency that helped clear the way. “Without them, it wouldn’t have been possible, because the way they helped us out was they gave us tax breaks for it, and a lot of things we didn’t know they helped us out with,” said Smith. But IDA’s in towns like Clarence, Hamburg, and Lancaster could soon be out of business if County Executive Mark Poloncarz has his way. Poloncarz says town IDA’s do little to create jobs and promote real economic growth. He issued this statement saying in part: “We can no longer allow the five town IDA’s to have an unfair advantage in luring existing jobs and existing businesses into their town at the County taxpayers’ expense. If they want to complete a deal that benefits one town at the expense of another, they should use their own town resources to do it.” Tim Smith disagrees. “The plumber was local, the electrician was local …
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