Noble mulls payment plan proposal

The mayor wavered on whether he definitively supported a proposal to grant a low-income housing provider a PILOT plan.

Mayor Steve Noble wavered this week on whether he definitively supported a proposal to grant a low income housing provider a payment-inlieu-of-tax, or PILOT, plan.

Instead of taking a solid position, Noble said discussion on the plan requested by RUPCO, the housing provider, needed to occur. The tax plan is needed in order for RUPCO to build its Landmark Place housing complex.

“My staff are in the process of reviewing the proposed PILOT agreement, and it’s my understanding that the Finance Committee is also reviewing the document,” Noble said in an email when asked if he supported the plan. “I look forward to conferring with the Council and all involved parties on the matter in the coming months.”

Still, Noble said, he is looking forward “to Landmark Place’s construction, as it will provide much-needed affordable senior housing in our community.”

Last week, RUPCO proposed a 32-year payment-inlieu-of-taxes agreement with the city totaling $2.24 million for its Landmark Place apartment project that will be built at the former Alms House on Flatbush Avenue.

RUPCO Chief Executive Officer Kevin O’Connor told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday that his organization has PILOT agreements on its Lace Mill and Energy Square projects in the city.

He said with each of those projects RUPCO has paid $1,000 per unit in combined taxes to the city, Kingston school district, and Ulster County. The proposal for Landmark Place would follow that same structure, O’Connor said.

Under the proposal, RUPCO would pay $25,000 in taxes for each of the first two years of the agreement while the project is being constructed and the apartments are being leased. It would then pay $66,000 each year for the next 10 years. That payment would increase to $73,000 for each

of the 10 years after that, followed by $80,000 for each of the final 10 years of the deal.

O’Connor has said the payments would be voluntary because RUPCO is a tax-exempt organization. He added that despite being tax-exempt, RUPCO has already paid $385,000 in taxes this year on its various properties. RUPCO understands the city has needs and the agency’s projects use some of Kingston’s services, O’Connor said.

RUPCO applied for funding to the Housing Finance Agency, a public benefit corporation and arm of New York State Homes and Community Renewal. The Housing Finance Agency uses taxable and tax-exempt bonds to provide mortgage loans to developers of affordable multifamily rental housing.

RUPCO would also be required to pay a one-time recreation fee to the city of $3,000 per unit for 64 of the apartments being created at Landmark Place, O’Connor said.

The Landmark Place proposal, which drew considerable opposition from people

who live near the site, calls for 34 apartments to be created in the existing vacant Alms House structure and 32 more apartments in a new building to be constructed on the same site. The housing is to be open to people ages 55 and older, and some of the units are to offer support services for a mix of homeless populations

with special needs. There would also be an apartment unit created for a superintendent who would live on the site.

RUPCO officials say they would need the PILOT agreement in place before November.

The committee, however, took no action on the PILOT during its meeting.