As expected, the state has appealed the landmark ruling that found its solar and wind tax rates unconstitutional.
The appeal was filed Thursday in Albany County Supreme Court.
Schoharie County Energy Committee chair Don Airey is still sifting through the 26-page Notice of Appeal, but said Friday he would have been more surprised if it hadn’t come.
“We’re used to this,” he said. “This is what they do. We’re been preparing. All this does is clarify things. But now the burden is on the state.”
It was on March 3 in State Supreme Court that Sullivan County Judge James Farrell ruled the state’s Real Property Tax Law 575-b, which heavily discounts tax assessments on solar and wind projects larger than one megawatt, was unconstitutional.
It was a win not just for Schoharie County, which had filed the Article 78 and home rule challenge, but for the state, Mr. Airey said.
The state had 30 days to appeal the decision to the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court, where it will be held by a panel of three judges.
The bulk of the filing is background already presented by the state; Mr. Airey said he’ll be reviewing it with Dylan Harris, attorney at Whiteman Otserman and Hanna, who won the case.
The entire Board of Supervisors, individually, along with Cynthia West, the wife of County Attorney Mike West, are named as petitioners in the original Article 78 challenge.
Mr. Airey said he’s confident they will agree to continue to fight.
“Now, the burden has shifted to the state to convince another judge that it’s [RPTL-575-b] appropriate, legal, and constitutional,” he said.
Much of the impetus for the county’s original lawsuit came because of the 50-MW NextEra Energy Solar Project in the Town of Sharon.
RPTL-575-b would have meant a loss of $3.3 million a year in property taxes there.
Additionally, it would have meant a loss of another $1.5 million—a year—in lost taxes in the Towns of Carlisle and Seward, where a 20-MW project is waiting on final approval from the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting.
Town of Sharon Assessor Charlene Ruszkowski is scrambling to finalize assessments, now that the discounts for solar no longer apply.
“You can clap here,” Ms. Ruszkowski told the Sharon Town Board in her written report Wednesday, the day before the appeal was filed.
There’s still reason for applause, Supervisor Sandy Manko said Saturday.
“As I understand it, there is no tax break,” she said.
“They’re fully assessed until a judge says they’re not. That could take years.”