Port Jervis IDA to examine PILOT program

ANYA TIKKA
Posted 8/21/12

PORT JERVIS, NY — The topic of Future Home Technologies, also known as Excel, came up at the Port Jervis Common Council meeting on September 14, when Councilman Robert Richie said the Orange County …

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Port Jervis IDA to examine PILOT program

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PORT JERVIS, NY — The topic of Future Home Technologies, also known as Excel, came up at the Port Jervis Common Council meeting on September 14, when Councilman Robert Richie said the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has scheduled a visit on September 21 for a walk-through of the factory premises. The modular home maker has not shown any signs of recent activity, he said, and the city wants to review the agreements, including IDA’s payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program that gives tax breaks to businesses when they start or expand in the city.

Richie said, “We found out they’re not really doing much of anything at the facility, and there are very few employees, so we’re doing a walk-through to see what’s going on.”

Future Home Technologies applied for a 30-day extension, indicating they are in the process of getting contracts. There will be a special meeting to go over the proposed new agreement with the city on September 30, following the walk-through.

Taxes also came up when clerk-treasurer Robin Waizenegger explained the city is at an all-time low with collected taxes, and asked vendors to be patient with payments until tax monies due are collected.

Mayor Kelly Decker also clarified issues about the newly implemented sewer tax that have been brought up several times during recent meetings. He said resident Wayne Kidney brought up some figures at the last meeting, including that non-homestead owners pay 14% more taxes than homestead owners. The dual tax rate system used by Port Jervis and several other cities was enabled by the state legislature in 1981 with the intent of shifting a greater share of the city’s tax burden to units that were not occupied by the owner.

“It’s not true,” Decker said of Kidney’s claim. Decker said he’d made a study of his own home of six residents: his four boys, himself and his wife. Decker said that if people have concerns, they should bring them to him and he’ll look at them.

In other business, September is National Recovery Month, and MaryAlice Presto of Orange County Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Council (OCADAC) came to address the council about the importance of highlighting addiction-related issues, starting with the “Too Good for Drugs” program she and others undertook at the middle school, and other preventive measures the city is taking to combat addiction-related problems.

Several council members praised the recent program “Street Drugs” that took place in the Erie Hotel with Police Chief William Worden and others highlighting the problem and ways to deal with it. The program was sponsored by Bon Secours Health Systems, Port Jervis Police and OCADAC.

Valerie Maginsky of the Community Development Agency also spoke. She said Operation Port Jervis Pride, with Catholic Charities serving as fiscal agent, has received a Federal Drug Free Communities grant of $125,000 per year for five years, with an option to extend for five additional years more. Maginsky said the application was a “true team effort” involving 12 different organizations that started when, about three years ago, a number of 20-year olds died in the city with suspected drug overdoses as a cause.

“We know from our research that alcohol and marijuana are the two greatest problems in our area,” Maginsky continued. “That’s why it’s a long-term grant. We need a change in attitudes, including [those of] parents and other adults.”

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