Needed: a tax assessment model for green projects
As a supporter of a new solar project slated for construction in Columbia County, I am excited about the chance to bring more of this clean technology to our part of the state. The climate crisis is real, and we all need to contribute to workable solutions. The Shepard’s Run Solar Project will reduce carbon emissions and bring a variety of benefits to Copake.
Let’s be clear about one thing: These projects pay taxes. Often, local confusion about the cost of these projects to local communities comes because developers and local governments negotiate PILOTS, which are payments in lieu of taxes. These are not giveaways. They are serious revenue generators that go into the budgets of local communities like ours.
But if you are a developer, ready to invest millions of dollars in a local project, it is a problem that there is no statewide guidance on what the local tax assessors or municipal governments should charge. This is not a smart or fair way to do business.
To move us further down the road to the economic and public health benefits of our clean energy future, the state needs to create a standard tax assessment model for renewable energy projects. That way, when our town discusses the pros and cons of a local project, we would all have a much clearer sense of how much it is going to cost and what the local benefits are, including for our local schools.
Fortunately, there is a proposal to include in the state budget a provision that would require New York to develop and publish a standard methodology for the assessment of renewable energy projects. The standard tax reform measure will direct the state to publish a fair method that towns would then use to assess taxes. Local governments would still be able to choose whether to negotiate a PILOT or use a traditional tax assessment. It simply means that the tax assessment approach will be more standardized and predictable across the state.
With uncertainty removed, more projects could move ahead. And that means more tax revenue for Copake, more renewable energy and clear steps toward addressing the climate crisis.
There is no statewide guidance on what the local tax assessors or municipal governments should charge.