Unable to cut a deal on a PILOT, One Energy Renewables/Birdseye Solar is walking away from plans for a commercial solar project off Route 20 in Sharon Springs.
Sharon's Joint Planning board gave the would-be developer the special use permit it needed to begin construction on Empie Road back in October.
However, PILOT-payment in lieu of taxes-negotiations had been at a standstill since December.
Schoharie County Treasurer Bill Cherry said then that even at the low end, the solar project was worth at least $3.8 million in construction costs-which would have meant a $164,000 annual tax bill.
Additionally, Mr. Cherry said, based on industry standards, the project could be expected to generate at least $400,000 in revenues a year.
One Energy Renewables/Birdseye Solar, however, initially balked at paying more than $8,000 annually.
In subsequent negotiations with Schoharie County, the Town of Sharon, and Sharon Springs Central School, One Energy agreed to add in about $7,000 worth of free electricity for a total compensation of about $17,000, and then, finally, a "highest and best" offer of $30,000 for year one.
But that, Mr. Cherry responded in a January 10 email, still wasn't close enough to "our absolute bottom line [of] $45,000 for the first PILOT installment," a figure, that he pointed out, was already heavily discounted.
"Honestly, the first year PILOT payment should be somewhere in the $80,000 to $90,000 range...a figure which is still far below the annual taxes, which would be about twice that amount," he wrote.
Mr. Cherry ended his email by declining One Energy's offer "with regret," in a January 15 email, One Energy's Rob Collier replied that while he appreciated all of the time and energy put into the PILOT negotiations, "For the time being, we will be delaying the development and construction timeline...due to [the] economic hardship that the PILOT imposes."
Mr. Collier did suggest that the project could be revived sometime down the road.
"Though we are disappointed about the outcome and its near-term consequences, we remain hopeful that this project, and others like it in Schoharie County, will work at some point in the future," Mr. Collier continued.
"...we are hopeful that, at a future time, we'll be able to pick back up where we'd left off. We will reach out when the moment comes."