Goosepond Mountain State Park is
mostly undeveloped, with limited
parking and no toilets
ALBANY – Legislation requiring the state to pay taxes on Goosepond Mountain State Park to local school districts, the Town of Chester and Orange County is before committees in the Assembly and Senate.
The measure is sponsored by Assemblyman James Skoufis (D, Woodbury) and Senator William Larkin (R, Cornwall-on-Hudson).
“Other towns and school districts in Orange County receive revenue from state parks, so it’s a matter of fairness to provide Chester the same benefit,” said Skoufis.
Goosepond lies in the Town of Chester and pays no school, local and county taxes. Placing it on the tax rolls would result in over $100,000 annually in estimated revenue for the community.
Currently all state parking under the state jurisdiction of the Palisades Interstate Park and located in the towns of Cornwall, Monroe, Warwick and Woodbury are subject to real property taxation. “Chester is inexplicably absent from this decades-old law,” said Skoufis.
