The Schoharie County IDA is updating its PILOT repayment schedule, adding a piece for community benefits, something that can be tapped for everything from parks to sidewalks to site readiness work.
PILOTS—payments in lieu of taxes that begin at 50 percent of what a project would be taxed at without it, gradually increasing to full taxation—will now run for 15 years; previously, PILOTS were for 10 years.
A developer’s one-time fee for an IDA PILOT will now be 1.25 percent; previously it had been one percent.
That .25 percent, though, will be groundbreaking, “extraordinary,” said SEEC’s Julie Pacatte, who’d served as interim IDA director until September; it will go into the community benefits fund—something that’s the first of its kind in the state.
It’s money that can be used to address issues raised during review of a project, like sidewalks or pedestrian access, she said, or it could be available for additional work on community planning.
“It’s going to be an idea that developers will like too as a way to give back to the community,” Ms. Pacatte said.
For Schoharie’s Highbridge project, it could mean $115,000.
Partnered with a slice of sales tax revenues supervisors are setting aside for economic development—its use hasn’t yet been specified—“and it’s a good win for Schoharie County,” Ms. Pacatte said.
The IDA’s PILOT policy—technically its Uniform Tax Exemption Policy—restricts eligibility to industrial and manufacturing projects, but not typically retail businesses unless they’re: in a “highly distressed area,” will draw most of its customers from outside Schoharie and not compete with existing businesses, or provide a provide or service now available here.
Under the updated PILOT, businesses won’t see an increase in property taxes because of improvements they’ve made to their site for the first five years.
In Year Six, they’ll be taxed at 50 percent the value of the improvements, increasing by five percent until Year 16, when they’ll be taxed at 200 percent.
PILOTS for commercial solar facilities with a letter of support from the municipality they’re located in, will be eligible for a 20-year PILOT, taxed at 50 percent beginning in Year 11.