At the May 6, 2020, Poughkeepsie Town Board meeting held via ZOOM, a developer promoting his project told the Board he needed a 15-year tax break due to rapidly increasing construction costs. He attributed this to the fact that construction workers would rather stay home on unemployment than come back to the job. No evidence to support that claim was provided. He also cited a supply chain breakdown, noting it was unclear if that would correct itself over a short or long period of time.
The developer was from Reynolds Asset Management of Hohokus, New Jersey and the project was listed on the agenda as “Dalia 55+ Project on Violet Avenue”.
So, the developer wants a long-term tax break, known as a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), for a supposed problem that could correct itself in the short-term.
The Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency (DCIDA) would be the agency to approve the PILOT and, in all likelihood, will. This means that other county, town and school district taxpayers will pick up the tab for the developer’s tax break, likely resulting in higher profits for him. Some of those taxpayers may be construction workers, the very group he disparaged.
These days, it seems as if every proposed project is asking for a PILOT, claiming the project would not otherwise be economically feasible. For example, Vassar College, even though it has an endowment worth more than $1 billion dollars, recently received preliminary approval from the DCIDA for a PILOT and a Sales Tax exemption for their proposed inn/conference center, again at the expense of taxpayers.
Doreen A. Tignanelli
Poughkeepsie NY
Opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Mid-Hudson News.
