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Move to cap tax payments on Forest Preserve

By Jim Planck

MOUNTAINTOP — State tax payments on Forest Preserve lands for towns in Greene County’s Mountaintop area will be locked in at their 2008 level if a budget request from Gov. David A. Paterson is approved by the state legislature.

Paterson has included the action as part of his 2009-10 budget proposal, in the category of State Workforce actions.

The state makes two types of real property payments to municipalities, the first being actual taxes and the second as payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, commonly known as PILOTs.

The actual property taxes are paid by authority of NYS Real Property Tax Law, because no municipality can tax the state unless its agrees to it, which, for Forest Preserve parcels, the state did back in 1886, the year after creating the Preserve.

The PILOTs are paid under authority of a different state law, the Public Lands Law.

In his budget proposal, Paterson requests legislative approval for not allowing any tax increase to, or capping, the state tax payments at whatever amount was paid to each municipality in 2008.

His request for the PILOT payments is to reduce them by six percent, which, together with the capped taxes, the plan projects will save the state $9 million in 2009-10 and another $16 million in 2010-11.

Regarding any potential impact the changes may have upon municipal revenues, Division of Budget spokesperson Matt Anderson indicated Thursday that it is not the state’s intent to have any displaced revenue passed on to the local taxpayer.

“We expect in this difficult economic time that all levels of government will have to look for efficiencies in their operations,” Anderson said.

NYS Senator James Seward, R,C-Oneonta, said he understands the state’s budgetary dilemma, but does not wish to see any fiscal burden from it put on local government.

“The state is facing a very serious financial problem,” Seward said. “However, I don’t want to see the state solve its problem on the backs of local government and local property tax payers.”

Seward said that if the state were to cap the tax payments, “It’ll just shift the cost over to the property tax payer.”

“We already have a property tax problem in these towns,” Seward said, in reference to the fact that towns which have large amounts of Forest Preserve lands do not have a lot of land available for growth, whether residential or commercial, which in turn limits their assessment base.

“I would hope we could back out that [request],” said Seward. “It’s a cost shift.”

Assemblyman Pete Lopez, R,C,I-Schoharie, also sees it as transferring the burden.

“The Governor is attempting to shift costs,” said Lopez.

“All of us understand we need to bring this budget under control,” Lopez said. “We need to make decisions with eyes open.”

“When the Governor wants to make a cut, the cut cannot be a tax shift,” he said. “That’s not a cut.”

“In capping payments or PILOTs,” said Lopez, “he’s putting more pressure on local government to make up the revenues, and that cuts at the local level.”

Lopez indicated that review of the full budget’s impact to local government is underway.

“Part of the process now,” he said, “is to see what is the cumulative impact of what he’s proposing, and how it will affect local government and schools.”

Lopez said that cuts are only part of the consideration.

“As we look at the budget and the cuts, we can’t forget that we need to grow our economy,” he said. “We need to keep a dedicated focus on growing jobs.”

Adirondack Mountain Club executive director Neil Woodworth said his group strongly opposes the plan, and indicated ADK sees an impact to both taxes and local economies from it.

“For more than a century, the Forest Preserve has provided a multitude of environmental, economic and recreational benefits for all New Yorkers,” said Woodworth, “but Governor Paterson’s plan would shift the burden of maintaining these crucial resources to residents of these sparsely populated areas.”

“This is not only unfair,” he said, “it is bad public policy that would undermine local support for open space protection in the Adirondacks and the Catskills.”

To reach reporter Jim Planck, call 518-943-2100, ext. 3324, or e-mail jplanck@thedailymail.net.

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