Park donation likely to be OK’d
RUPCO giving land to city after acquiring it during building buy
KINGSTON, N.Y. » City lawmakers on Tuesday were poised to accept a donation of the lands that make up Barmann Park despite some last-minute questions about the replacement of a fence and the impact on a Little League that uses the field.
During a Common Council caucus Monday, lawmakers discussed accepting the donation of the land from RUPCO, a nonprofit housing agency that acquired the property as part of its purchase of the nearby former Metropolitan Life Hall of Records building. The council was expected to vote on the donation during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening. (That meeting ended too late for inclusion in this article.)
In response to questions debated among the council members, city Corporation Counsel Kevin Bryant said they should consider accepting the donation of the property because it would be beneficial to Kingston as a whole.
“It’s a resource, and it’s saving money for the city,” Bryant said.
City Comptroller John Tuey previously told council members that Kingston covers the taxes on the property because it is currently on the tax roll. That means the city makes an out-of-pocket payment to the Kingston school district and then writes off
its own municipal taxes, he said. Tuey said the city taking ownership would make the property tax-exempt.
Since 1979, the city has leased the park land for $1 a year from Met Life, paying the property taxes, maintaining the athletic fields and holding the insurance liability.
Tuey has said the last general tax bill written off in 2017 was for $4,178.08. The last school tax bill paid by the city, for 2016-17, was for $4,001.11, he said.
As part of the donation from RUPCO, the city is to replace and maintain a fence that divides the park from the agency’s neighboring property.
Alderman Douglas Koop, D-Ward 2, said the money the city saves on taxes could go to replace the fence.
Lawmakers had questioned why the fence needed to be replaced now. They also questioned how the donation would affect the Little League teams that use Barmann Park.
The league already maintains the field and the concession stand on the property, Bryant said.
The park, at the intersection of Clinton and Greenkill avenues, was purchased by RUPCO as part of its $2 million acquisition of the Metropolitan Life building in July 2017. RUPCO plans to turn the building into a multiuse commercial facility called The Metro, which would include, among other entities, a TV and film production center called Stockade Works.