MONTICELLO, NY — The Sullivan County Legislature on May 18 approved a resolution that will allow the Sullivan County Funding Corporation (SCFC) to accept $28.5 million in bonds that will be used by the Center for Discovery for a variety of projects.

Legislator Ira Steingart said that the bonds will be paid for entirely by the Center and the county is serving simply as a pass-through organization, because the SCFC can get better rates when shopping for bonds.

Steingart said, “Center for Discovery is the largest employer - besides government - in the county,” with 1600 employees, and he supports the services they provide to people with disabilities.

Walter Garigliano, serving as attorney for the SCFC said, “The resolution provides that the bonds of issue would never become a debt of the state or any political subdivision of the state” including the county.

The bonding will be used to maintain or support 46 different projects connected to the center including for example, a retail art gallery in the Town of Fallsburg, “program support housing for a community supported agricultural operation,” “supportive apartments for emergency supportive housing,” and a “performing arts center/State Education Department program.”

Ken Walter, a resident who regularly attends county meetings, objected to the measure. He said in 2011, the center received bonding worth more than $61 million, and after that the center started buying multiple parcels in the Hamlet of Hurleyville. He said this new money may allow the center to buy even more properties and perhaps take them off the tax rolls, driving up taxes for everyone else in the town.

In remarks at the full board meeting he said, “How the Center for Discovery is able to take a population of 300 people that they serve … and grow in it into such an expanded, multi-billion dollar business...  This is a prime example of capitalism running wild under the guise of not-for-profit, and we the taxpayers pay the price.”

The final vote on the measure among the legislators was eight to one with only Catherine Owens voting no.

Corridor study funded

Another measure related to economic development was the approval for the county to kick in up to $100,000 for a study of a corridor mostly in the Town of Liberty, with a small portion of the Town of Thompson.  The study would determine the feasibility of creating shovel-ready sites alongside Route 17 that would eventually bring municipal water and sewer services to the site in an attempt to attract light manufacturing operations to the location.

Marc Baez president and CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership for Ecnomic Development, who has been promoting the project, spoke in favor of the resolution, as did Cathy Paty, president and CEO of the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce.

Bill Rieber, Jr., supervisor of the Town of Thompson, said he was in favor of the project and said the Thompson town board will vote in June on granting $20,000 to the study.  The Village of Liberty is also expected to contribute $20,000.  

Legislator Alan Sorensen, a professional municipal planner, said he had questions about the scope of the study which is said was not well defined, and he was not convinced the approach taken by Baez would be the most "fruitful" given the enormous cost to bring water and sewer to the proposed location.

Another objection, raised by legislators Owens and Nadia Rajsz, was that the study should be funded by the Industrial Development Agency and not the county.

Other legislators, including Ira Steingart, Mark McCarthy, Scott Samuelson and county chair Luiz Alvarez, said now is the time to invest in the future of the county.

In the end the vote was eight to two in favor of granting the funding with Rajsz voting yes because she said she supported the project, and Owens and Sorensen voting no.