ALBANY – State Senator James Skoufis (D, Cornwall) is urging the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency to reject an 18-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes proposed by the developers of the Marlboro Bayside housing project saying it is “incredulous” for the developer to propose that length of a PILOT agreement “with a straight face.”
In a letter to the IDA, the lawmaker said the “overwhelming majority of residential development – nearly 100 percent – in and around Ulster County is able to succeed without property tax abatements” and he questioned why this project, proposed along Route 9W, should be treated and differently.
Skoufis called the application before the IDA “disingenuous” because it does not mention that a large majority of the units, based on the number of bedrooms, would likely have children attending Marlboro schools “significantly increasing local costs district-wide. This as well as the costs associated with municipal services, are conveniently omitted from the IDA application.”
He also noted that three permanent jobs are proposed for the project. “The job creation is so miniscule that the applicant does not even register for a single point on the IDA’s UTEP (rating scale).
Skoufis said the applicant does not deserve even a one-year PILOT. “They should pay their damn taxes like virtually every other residential development in the Mid-Hudson Valley.” If not, he said, “I encourage your board to show them the door and leave them to take this scam to another county.”
