Beech-Nut incentives require local law BY EDWARD MUNGER JR. Gazette Reporter
Incentives offered to the Hero Corp. for its new Beech-Nut plant require a new local law allowing Montgomery County to provide grants, loans and gifts to the county’s Industrial Development Agency and to the state of New York. Created after incentives were agreed on, the new proposal headed to public hearing later this month provides a legal means for the county to give money to the IDA, which will be given to the state of New York and then given to Hero Group/Beech-Nut, according to the IDA’s bond attorney A. Joseph Scott of Albany. A 20-year payment in lieu of taxes agreement tied to the project sets the Hero Group/Beech-Nut annual payment at $2.5 million for each of the 20 years, but the company will not have to pay that money until year 14. For the first 10 years, the PILOT is structured so that the IDA will give Beech-Nut it’s $2.5 million back in the form of a rebate. During years 11 through 13, however, the IDA is sending the $2.5 million rebate to the state of New York, which in turn will give that money to the Switzerland-based Hero Group. That three-year period of the PILOT arrangement requires the new law be put on the books so that the state of New York will technically be seen as giving the company the money. “It all relates to the transfer of a portion of the PILOT money during the early years of the PILOT agreement to the state so the state can, in turn, grant that money [to the Hero Group/Beech-Nut,]” Scott said. According to a breakdown of the PILOT, the company will start paying property taxes to the county, to the Greater Amsterdam School District and to the town of Florida from years 14 through 20. The final seven years of the PILOT will add up to about $6.8 million for the county, $10.2 million for the school district and $420,000 for Florida, according to a breakdown of the PILOT agreement. The PILOT is among several incentives offered toward the company’s $124.8 million project to build a roughly 600,000-square-foot baby food factory, preserving about 350 jobs and creating another 135. Scott said the proposed new local law was devised because of the incentives offered to Beech-Nut. “I can’t say you would see this with a lot of counties because the inducement package being offered by the state to Beech-Nut is a little unusual,” Scott said. Though the law is being created because of the Beech-Nut project, Scott said it will allow for the county to make loans, grants and gifts to the IDA and to the state in the future. “It would provide support for the county doing a similar project in the future if the county decided to do that,” Scott said. Scott said the new law will not minimize public scrutiny for any grants, gifts or loans the county will make in the future. Any such action would require action by the county Board of Supervisors which would be public, he said. The public hearing on the new law is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. on April 22 in the county Board of Supervisors’ chambers at 64 Broadway in Fonda.
I guess PILOTS are offered everywhere to keep jobs, huh? I guess every one and businesses alike are struggling.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
PILOTs---do they go away....because taxes sure dont.....and this is a form of a tax----and taxation without representation is wrong.......it's a tax in the form and guise of buying jobs with taxpayer funds.......no different than subsidized farming.......
shame on us......is this only in NYS and the higher eschalons????? Remember the cost of doing business in NYS is to pay for the 'protection' of those on the top of the pyramid.........
sham sham sham----shame shame shame.......
WHAT IS THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS IN NYS??????
DONT TELL ME THAT THOSE FOLKS IN THE 'IN', DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE CURRENT SUBPRIME/CREDIT/HOUSING ISSUE????? NYC/WALLSTREET?? HELLO, THEY ALL SLEEP IN THE SAME BEDS(SPITZER) AND THEY ALL EAT AT THE SAME TABLES AND RUB ELBOWS........THERE IS A WEB AND THE TAX PAYERS ARE THE FLIES........
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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