The Garden City School District today announced it would drop its efforts to seek a temporary injunction that would prevent the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency (IDA) from granting significant tax abatements to the prospective purchasers of the Garden City Hotel. At the same time, the school district reiterated its intention to seek a court order that would annul the IDA resolution granting the tax abatements.

Noting that the school district had received a Notice of Claim from the hotel's purchasers for $20 million in damages, Board of Education President Colleen Foley stated, "The school district remains concerned that the IDA's action will cause the loss of $2.8 million over the next 10 years and place an additional burden on the taxpayers of the community. The district also remains steadfast in its conviction that the IDA violated its own procedures and its own policies when it granted the tax abatement. However, the Board recognizes that it cannot ask the taxpayers of Garden City to bear the additional risk of incurring a huge financial responsibility as a result of seeking the injunction."

The Garden City School District will continue its efforts to seek redress of the situation through an Article 78 proceeding in New York State Supreme Court.