The chairman of the board of the Greene Country Industrial Development Agency has resigned in the midst of a scandal over the $175,000 bonus the IDA gave to its executive director last year. According to today's story in the Daily Mail, Paul Slutzky's resignation has nothing to do with the bonus kerfuffle and everything to do with a conflict of interest between his role as IDA chair and his duties as the owner of a ski resort seeking help from IDA:
Slutzky, who is an executive and primary shareholder of Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl, left the Greene IDA board earlier this month due to a restriction which limits IDA support to board members, according to fellow Greene IDA board member Daniel Frank ... Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl is currently upgrading their major ski lifts, replacing the current quad lift with a six-person lift at the base of the mountain ...The total cost of the project will be about $6 million, according to Frank, and Slutzky has requested a state sales tax exemption through the Greene IDA for the purchase of the equipment.
