The landmark NYC brownfield program demonstrates the economic benefits of brownfield programs. The Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) which is responsible for administering the program has calculated the benefits of the first 47 projects that enrolled in the program.
The OER analysis indicates that these projects generated city revenue of $369 MM on a 30- year net present value (NPV) while state revenue is estimated at $310 MM 30 Year NPV. The revenue generated to the City includes Income Tax, Property Tax, Sales Tax, and One-Time Revenue (Remediation and Construction, Sales Tax on Materials, and Mortgage Recording Tax). Revenue to the State includes the same set excluding Property Taxes because they are collected on a local level.
To further improve the value of the program to applicants, OER is working with the state legislature to obtain a state liability release for sites remediated in the city program (currently OER has an MOU with the DEC) and elimination of state hazardous waste fees for material removed from city voluntary sites. Both are available for state program.