NY Senators to Legoland: 'Get your hands out of our taxpayers' pockets'

By Frances Ruth Harris and Pamela Chergotis
GOSHEN — New York Senators James Skoufis and Jen Metzger are objecting to Legoland New York's request to the Orange County Legislature for up to $1 million to market their theme park, now under construction in Goshen, around the world.
“Legoland needs to get their hands out of our taxpayers' pockets," said Skoufis, who represents the 39th District. "Their audacity knows no bounds: millions of dollars in so-called incentives and excessively generous property tax breaks apparently aren't enough,” said Senator Skoufis. “The Orange County Legislature should reject Legoland's request for publicly funded advertisements and make them pay for their own marketing like every other corporation.”
Metzger, who represents the 42nd District, said Legoland has already received millions of taxpayer dollars from the state and county.
"Now the company is asking for another million dollars to advertise for business," she said. "That's the company's responsibility, not the taxpayers' responsibility. At some point you have to call it what it is — corporate welfare."
Amanda Dana, who heads Orange County's tourism office, supports Legoland's marketing effort.
"The purpose of this marketing initiative is to co-brand the County of Orange with Legoland New York and ultimately advertise and promote all of the county’s tourism assets in a marketing space that will lead to extremely strong brand recognition and increased international and domestic visitor spending throughout Orange County," Dana said in an emailed statement. "This marketing collaboration will work hand and hand with our strategic mission to attract and encourage family-based visitors for longer durations and to build multi-day itineraries in Orange County."
She said Legoland New York will be committing about $30 million over five years to promote both Legoland New York and Orange County.
Dana said the tourism department is working on getting answers to questions posed by county legislators who attended an informational meeting on Feb. 22.
"We are hopeful to provide this information very shortly in hopes that this marketing agreement can be disused further next month," she said. "A similar marketing agreement is in place with Polk County, Florida, and according to tourism officials, has resulted in not only a huge economic impact, but also lead to a collaborative approach to marketing with a trusted community based partner."
County Legislator James O'Donnell, who represents Goshen, has doubts about the idea. He said legislators never received an answer from the tourism department or Legoland about changes in its proposal.
Matt Besterman, public Relations manager for Legoland New York, said some of the details are still being worked out.
"This collaborative marketing effort is based on the fact that Orange County Tourism will want to promote Legoland as a destination, and, of course, Legoland will want to promote Orange County as a destination — so it makes sense for Orange County Tourism and Legoland New York’s marketing team to work together to align strategies and promote both," Besterman wrote in an emailed statement. "As far as the financial aspect goes, it’s based on the fact that Legoland New York Resort will be generating several million dollars per year for Orange County in hotel bed tax."