Preservationists & affordable housing folks both peeved by bill

From the NY Observer:

The organization that represents the state's affordable-housing industry, the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, is displeased with a provision in the revenue bill under consideration in Albany, as are advocates of historic preservation such as the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

The revenue bill offers one of the more blatant forms of what is, by most any definition, borrowing. (Remember: Many in Albany, particularly in the Senate, refused the Ravitch plan because it contained borrowing.)

The bill would defer the payment of tax credits to private firms for things like construction on polluted sites, creation of affordable housing, and historic preservation until 2013—delaying a bill now while adding to the long-term bill later on. This doesn't actually save much money—it just means that the state pushes its bills three years down the line.

With that said, the deferment would likely discourage some investment in the short term, which is the complaint of the preservationists and the affordable-housing developers. The bill restricts payment to $2 million in credits per taxpayer right now, which means any one developer would be restricted to that $2 million regardless of how many properties he or she is working on.