State Assemblyman Sean Ryan is pitching a plan to take away much of the power of the six Industrial Development Agencies in the county and shift economic development control to the Regional Economic Development Council.
The IDAs would also lose much of their power to issue tax breaks, limiting it to the government they represent so that the Amherst IDA could only ease town taxes not those of every government and school district in the county as it can now.
At a public meeting Monday at D'Youville College, Ryan said his legislation contains "new rules that will only govern Erie County."
"My idea is we're going to let every county decide for themselves how they want to run their own IDA system."
Ryan says he has already received a ruling from State Legislature lawyers that his plan doesn't require prior approval by the Erie County Legislature.
