Don’t cap Forest Preserve taxes
A letter to the governorBy the Adirondack Common Ground Alliance
January 8, 2009
Re: Proposal to cap property taxes on the Forest Preserve in the Adirondack Park
Dear Governor Paterson:
We, the undersigned members of the Adirondack Common Ground Alliance, respectfully request that, within the thirty day amendment period of your proposed budget, you rescind your amendment to Section 544 of the real property tax law, new subdivision 3, which proposes to cap property taxes on State lands. If New York State caps its payment of taxes on the approximately 3.0 million acres Forest Preserve lands in the Adirondack Park, the economic impact on our rural communities will be devastating.
The Common Ground Alliance is composed of a diversity of local leaders from the Adirondacks, including elected officials, private enterprises, and education, economic development, health and environmental non-profit organizations who are dedicated to identifying solutions that benefit Adirondack communities, their economies and the environment.
While we all understand the economic difficulties that the State is facing, we are opposed to your plan to trim State spending by capping the state's property tax payments on Forest Preserve lands to Adirondack towns, counties and school districts. It would be far more constructive for State government to work cooperatively with local governments and school districts, reduce state mandates and help them reduce property taxes for everyone. At a time when every municipality is struggling to provide much needed services to their residents, the additional burden of funding basic services on the Forest Preserve that are enjoyed by all New Yorkers would be a hard and unfair bill to pay.
The State has a legal obligation to pay Forest Preserve property taxes. The Legislature made a commitment in 1886 to pay full local property taxes on publicly owned Adirondack Forest Preserve lands, which today make up about half of the land within the Adirondack Park. (It made a similar commitment in the Catskill Park.) For more than a century, the Forest Preserve has provided a multitude of environmental, economic and recreational benefits for all New Yorkers, but this tax cap plan would shift the burden of maintaining these crucial resources to residents of these sparsely populated areas. We view the payment of taxes on the Forest Preserve as a permanent, essential and inviolate commitment from the people of New York State, who benefit so greatly from the Preserve, to the taxing districts in which those State lands are located.
The legitimacy of the State's tax payments on the Forest Preserve was upheld by the NYS Supreme Court's Appellate Division in 2008, in the case of Dillenburg vs. NYS. In that case, both the State and its supporters who filed amicus briefs reminded the court that the 1886 law granting the payment of property taxes on the Forest Preserve was not arbitrary and capricious, but was the legitimate right of the state to compensate local governments for basic services they provided on the Forest Preserve, as well as to compensate for tax receipts foregone by local government by the state's removing opportunities for development on Forest Preserve property. The outcome in that case gave all Adirondack and Catskill communities some assurance that State land taxes on the Forest Preserve would continue to be paid by the state as specified in the 1886 law.
We are disappointed by the idea that the Division of Budget would confuse their obligation to pay ad valorem property taxes with state aid to local communities. The decision to cap State land property taxes is conceptually flawed. Clearly, private individuals living on tight budgets don't have the option of deciding how much property tax they pay, and neither should the State. State tax payments are compensation for the prohibition against commercial use of the Forest Preserve, and in partial recognition of the services provided by local taxpayers (e.g., road maintenance, police, fire, courts, etc.).
The proposed tax cap would set a dangerous precedent by creating two separate ad valorem tax rates, one for the State and another for private property owners. The State has an obligation to pay its fair share of taxes. Not doing so would shift the State's financial responsibility unfairly to local taxpayers, many of whom are struggling to afford to remain in their homes. The damage done to local taxpayers and local economies would be dramatic, hitting hardest those towns with the fewest residents and the greatest amount of State land, which is often 70 percent to 80 percent of an Adirondack town's land base. When our hardworking Adirondack taxpayers are struggling to meet their financial obligations, it seems only right that the State would continue to be a good neighbor and honor the commitment to pay full taxes on the millions of acres it owns in the Adirondack Park.
This proposal is bad public policy that is already undermining local support for open space protection in the Adirondacks. The State's commitment to communities who host Forest Preserve lands is critically important for the continuation of New York's successful open space protection program. Continuing to support our local governments in the Forest Preserve will ensure the State can continue to protect our watersheds and ecologically and recreationally significant tracts of land, and allow all New Yorkers to connect with these special places.
Governor Paterson, we urge you to eliminate this injurious proposal to cap property taxes on the Forest Preserve within the thirty day amendment period of your proposed budget. The economic survival of our small rural communities depends on your leadership to do what is right. Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully,
Kevin Arquit, taxpayer, town of Long Lake; partner, Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett
Peter Bauer, executive director, Fund for Lake George
Richard Bird, owner, Adirondack Estates Inc.
Robert M. Blais, mayor, Village of Lake George
Lee Borland, president, Borland Product Development Inc.
Stephen J. Bory, supervisor, Town of Hopkinton
Cali Brooks, executive director, Adirondack Community Trust
Al Caccese, executive director, Audubon New York
Donald L. Caldera, president, Country Business Services LLC; Adirondack North Country Association president
Deborah Carhart, executive director, Central Adirondack Partnership for the 21st Century Inc.
Dr. Jack Carney, taxpayer, Town of Long Lake
Michael Carr, executive director, The Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, The Adirondack Land Trust
John F. Cavelli, executive vice president for public affairs, Wildlife Conservation Society
John Colston, resident, Town of Long Lake
Michael Conway, executive director, Adirondack Economic Development Corporation
Conrad Cook, councilman, Town of Parishville
Raymond P. Curran, representative/member, Adirondack Sustainable Communities Inc., Common Ground Alliance Core Team
Diane Cuff-Carney, taxpayer, Town of Long Lake
Susan Day Fuller, president, Fuller Communications
Mary H. DeGarmo, taxpayer, Tupper Lake Land Owners
Gerald Delaney, councilman, Town of Saranac
Michael Desmarais, mayor, Village of Tupper Lake
Garry Douglas, president/chief executive officer, Plattsburgh/North Country Chamber of Commerce
Randall T. Douglas, supervisor, Town of Jay
George Edwards, supervisor, Town of Ohio
William Farber, chairman, Hamilton County Board of Supervisors; Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages past president
Michael Farrell, director, Uihlein Forest of Cornell University
William B. Ferebee, supervisor, Town of Keene
Kate Fish, president, SPAN560; organizer, Adirondack Climate Conference 2008, Lake Placid
Roger Friedman, councilman, Town of Schroon Lake
Patrick Gallagher, deputy mayor, Lake Placid Village
Joe Gerardi, supervisor, Town of Saranac
David Gibson, executive director, The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks
Jon Hart, mayor, Village of Mayfield
Kenneth B. Hawks, president, Raquette Lake Property Owners Association Inc.
Greg Hill, community assistance specialist, Adirondack North Country Association
Alan S. Hipps, The Adirondack Community Housing Trust, Housing Assistance Program of Essex County Inc.
Mary B. Hotaling, executive director, Historic Saranac Lake
Brian Houseal, executive director, Adirondack Council
Richard Jarvis, taxpayer, Town of Franklin
Raymond N. Johnson, Ph.D., Institute of Climate Studies
Lee Keet, Steering Committee member, AdkAction
Nancy R. Keet, president, Lake Colby Association
Dick Kibben, Steering Committee member, AdkAction
Kevin S. King, president and CEO, Empire State Forest Product Association
Claire Leonardi, resident/taxpayer, Long Lake
Thomas Leonardi, resident/taxpayer, Long Lake
Maria Leonardi, resident/student, Hamilton College
Edward LeMieux, supervisor, Town of Duane
Elizabeth O'C. Little, senator, New York State, District 45
Howard Lowe, director of economic development, Technical Assistance Center
Michael Marnell, councilman, Town of Schroon Lake
Joe Martens, president, Open Space Institute
Terry Martino, executive director, Adirondack North Country Association
Donald G. Mauer, town clerk/tax collector, Town of Piercefield
James McKenna, president/CEO, Lake Placid/Essex County Tourism
John W. Mills, president, Paul Smith's College; president, Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
Ed M. Milner, president, Gore Mountain Region/Town of Johnsburg Chamber of Commerce
Rebecca B. Milner, Olmstedville
Frederick H. Monroe, executive director, Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board
Sue Montgomery Corey, president, Community Power Network of NYS
Philip Monthony, property owner/taxpayer, Indian Lake
Jerry Moore, supervisor, Town of Parishville
Robert Moore, supervisor, Town of Webb
Cathy Moses, supervisor, Town of Schroon Lake
Marcy Neville, councilwoman, Town of Keene
William H. Osbourne, director of economic development and tourism, Hamilton County
Clara Phibbs, councilwoman, Town of Schroon Lake
Ermina M. Pincombe, supervisor, Town of Benson
Rob Riley, president, Northern Forest Center
J.R. Risley, director of business development, Adirondack Economic Development Corporation
Shirley Robinson, councilwoman, Town of Parishville
Sean Ross, forestry operations manager, The Lyme Timber Company
Ann Ruzow Holland, community planning advisor, Willsboro
Teresa R. Sayward, Assemblywoman, New York State, 113th District
Jim Schoff, Steering Committee member, AdkAction
Shirley W. Seney, former supervisor, Town of North Elba
Todd Smith, president, Adirondack Sustainable Communities Inc.
Zoe Smith, director, Adirondack Program, Wildlife Conservation Society
Marsha Stanley, Steering Committee member, AdkAction
Phillip G. Terrie, property owner/taxpayer, Town of Long Lake
Brian Towers, supervisor, Town of Wells, Hamilton County; Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages president
Kari Tremper, councilwoman, Town of Parishville
Lani Ulrich, member, Common Ground Alliance Core Team
Rodney Votra, councilman, Town of Parishville
Gregg Wallace, supervisor, Town of Long Lake
Michael Washburn, executive director, Residents Committee for the Protection of the Adirondacks
Alan G. West, chairman, Joint Trapping Initiative Committee, New York State Trappers Association, Warren County, Town of Queensbury
Julie West, program coordinator, CBN Connect
Mark Whitney, councilman, Town of Schroon Lake
Ross Whaley, senior advisor, Adirondack Landowners Association
Richard Wilt, supervisor, Town of Arietta
Dave Wolff, Steering Committee member, AdkAction
Neil Woodworth, executive director and counsel, Adirondack Mountain Club
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The Adirondack Common Ground Alliance, formed in 2007, is headquartered at the Adirondack North Country Association offices in Saranac Lake.
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Afinehowdoyoudo
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01-13-09 10:54 AM
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Add Joe Schectelli to the list and I will buy in.
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