FORESTBURGH — Tensions rose at the latest Forestburgh town board meeting as they discussed the town's future with the County of Sullivan Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

A project currently in development in Forestburgh—Another Sky Campground—have been approved for IDA tax abatements which has some members of the Forestburgh town board concerned.

According to the Forestburgh Councilman Steven Budofsky, the applicant did not need IDA benefits and was already approved for permits for the project by the Forestburgh Planning Board in December 2017.

In June 2017, Another Sky Campground applied to the Forestburgh Planning Board to change the Forestburg Golf course on Tannery Road to a glamping tenting resort.

“The IDA awarded it anyway at the cost of Forestburgh taxpayers,” said Budofsky.

The campground applied to the IDA in December 2018, a year after the Forestburgh Planning Board approved the project.

On June 10, 2019, the IDA extended the Sales Tax Abatement Period for the Forestburgh Hospitality Inc. and Forestburgh Property Inc.—owners of Another Sky Campground—from July 1 to December 31, 2019.

Budofsky, along with the board, drafted a letter in March 2019 to the IDA stating their concerns about the project receiving IDA benefits and how it would hurt the town.

They wanted to know if the IDA exercised discretion when it came to property tax abatements. Also, if Forestburgh could participate and provide its perspective on the town's interest and be heard in addition to the setting of a “public hearing.”

The Office of the New York State Comptroller said in a May 2019 report, “IDAs must establish a uniform tax exemption policy, with input from affected tax jurisdictions, that provides guidelines for claiming certain exemptions.”

The last time the IDA had a comprehensive UTEP review was in 2013.

In a response letter, the IDA disagreed with the town board citing how new development has benefited the county and how they do use discretion on applications.

“Many of the largest employers in Sullivan County, including Resorts World Catskills Casino, Crystal Run Healthcare, Kohl's Distribution Center, Ideal Snacks, Rolling V Bus, and others involve projects that were developed with IDA financial assistance. These projects have certainly benefited the county,” said IDA Executive Director Jen Flad in a letter to Forestburgh Town Board.

According to the Office of the New York State Comptroller, the Mid-Hudson Region — which Sullivan IDA is a part of — provided $174 million in tax exemptions, the highest in the state.

The Comptroller's report, based on 2016 data, estimates that this created 27,370 jobs across the region.

Still, the Forestburgh Town Board feels their voice isn't being heard.

“The IDA response ignored our concerns about what financial consequences the IDA abatements have on Forestburgh,” said Budofsky. “They have offered no remedy to our current concerns, no solution on future lost tax revenue. I move to ‘opt out' of the Sullivan IDA until there is a reform to their policy or some reform at the state level.”

Before the board voted on “opting out” of the IDA, Forestburgh Councilwoman Karen Ellsweig expressed reservations on leaving before they had all the information on opting out.

“We might be losing taxes on the improvements, but we are still getting the property taxes. [opting out] might make people not want to apply for businesses in Forestburgh,” said Ellsweig.

Budofsky wanted to vote to opt out immediately and not wait.

“You said, based on the letter and the response we got, you would vote on it, and here we are—three months [later] — and we are still not going to vote,” said Budofsky.

“I will not vote without that information,” responded Ellsweig.

Forestburgh Town Supervisor Dan Houge Jr. said: “I think the IDA is a great idea and a good way to draw business but is extremely flawed.”

A motion to table the decision to opt out of the IDA until the next town board meeting scheduled on July 11 was passed with Budofsky voting nay.

Opting out

Can a town opt out? According to IDA Counsel Walter Garigliano, “I know of no opt-out provision, but periodically the IDA reviews its Uniform Tax Abatement Programs with the functional head of all Town and Village governments or their designee.”

Furthermore, Garigliano said that if a local government does not see IDA UTEPs as a benefit to the town or village, the IDA can amend the UTEP to exclude that local government.

In 2004, the Town of Thompson wanted to be excluded in the Retail Sales Program of the IDA's UTEP, which excluded “benefits for applicants proposing projects that are tourism destination facilities located in the Town of Thompson.”

Garigliano stated that Thompson later asked to reverse that amendment and then asked for a reversal to welcome the planned “Entertainment Village.”

Delaware Solar moves forward

The IDA approved four solar applications from Delaware Solar at their June 10 meeting.

The new installations will be built along Villa Roma Road in the Town of Delaware on 91 acres of land.

According to the application, 19 acres will remain with current owners— Michael and Trach Peurschner—and Delaware River Solar will purchase 72 acres.

Each solar array on Villa Roma road will have 10 acres of panels, taking up 40 acres of the 72 acres purchased by Delaware River Solar.

Construction for the solar arrays, according to the application, can start by this summer and can be completed by the fall.

Each solar array will be a two megawatt commercial solar photovoltaic costing $4.7 million each, except for one, that will cost $4.1 million.

Once the project is complete, the Villa Roma Road solar array will be able to produce 11.1 megawatts of power.

According to the Delaware Solar, “The financial assistance provided by the Agency [IDA] in terms of tax relief will provide financing parties and investor's certainty in tax payments that will alleviate some of their risk on a project with returns that are below market average.”

Once construction is done, this will bring the total solar arrays from Delaware Solar to seven in Sullivan County according to their website.