"The Governor's budget has given the Catskills a cold shoulder at a time when our communities need a security blanket," said Lisa Rainwater, Executive Director of The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development. "In some communities the State owns up to 70% of the land. The remaining percentage is often owned by small landowners, farms, and businesses - many of whom have been hardest hit in this economic downturn," Rainwater continued. "These folks shouldn't be expected to make up the State's shortfall. The New State Legislature must reject the Governor's proposal in order to protect our struggling communities."
the Catskill Park total 287,500 acres (41%), while private land totals 381,070 (53%). The remaining six percent is held by New York City. Four counties within the Forest Preserve rely on annual New York State property taxes: Delaware (42,000 acres), Greene (79,200 acres), Sullivan (18,800 acres), and Ulster (154,200 acres). New York State pays approximately $30 million annually to local Catskill municipalities. According to the NYS Division of Budget, the Governor's proposal would save the State $9 million in property taxes in 2009-2010 and $16 million in 2010.
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February 4, 2009, Catskill Center: Petition rejecting Governor David Paterson's tax proposal
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February 12, 2009, River Reporter: Marcellus scope complete, Comments prompt DEC to widen study
Marcellus scope complete
Comments prompt DEC to widen study
link to complete article is here:
http://www.riverreporter.com/issues/09-02-12/news-scope.html
ALBANY, NY — Comments from officials, organizations and citizens alike about natural gas drilling have made a difference. At least that’s the claim of the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
In preparing a scope document, which essentially serves as a roadmap that the DEC will use in its study of extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale, the agency conducted six hearings in the Catskills and the Southern Tier. It received a total of 188 verbal statements and over 3,770 written statements that came by fax, letter and email. Those who offered comment included representatives of federal, state and local government agencies, environmental groups, industry, other organizations and individuals.
Before reviewing the comments, according to the DEC, the agency had intended to focus on water and wastewater management as the most important areas for study in terms of environmental impacts. The people who commented were concerned about these areas, but they also expressed concerns about a wide array of issues. Therefore, the DEC expanded the scope of the study to include examination of the following:
• Effectiveness of regulations in other oil and gas producing states where high-volume hydraulic fracturing of shale is used.
• Setbacks for multi-well sites and high-volume hydraulic fracturing operations from private dwellings or buildings, surface water bodies and private water wells.
• Potential requirements for private water well sampling, testing and monitoring by gas well operators.
• Feasibility of requiring the use of green or non-chemical fracturing technology.
• Mechanisms to require notification, review and department approval of re-fracturing operations.
• Specific air quality topics.
Still, some advocates believe the final scope does not go far enough. Tom Wilinsky, a lawyer and a member of Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, said the DEC was “selective” in deciding what topics to study. He said, “From what I can see, they’re not really looking at the broad cumulative effects” of so many wells in one area as is envisioned for the Marcellus Shale.
“I don’t think they’re doing a real full economic analysis, either, in terms of job creation and whether the jobs that are created will be filled by people who actually live in the area versus shipping people in to work the wells and the drilling apparatus, and our understanding is that’s what happens.”
Now that the scope is completed, the DEC will begin the environmental study to create a Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS). A draft of the SGEIS is expected to be completed sometime this spring, after which the public will again be invited to comment.
February 11, 2009, Buffalo News: Paterson "not interested" in talking Catskills casino until Seneca tax issue resolved
Gov. Paterson "not interested" in talking Catskills casino until Seneca tax issue resolved
ALBANY - Gov. David Paterson said today he is "not interested" in moving ahead in talks with Seneca Nation leaders over a new downstate casino until a dispute over collection of cigarette and gasoline taxes is resolved.
The governor's comments to reporters came a day after members of his administration met with several Seneca representatives over the tribe's plans to build a casino in the Catskills resort region. The $160 million project faces a series of hurdles, not the least of which has been the reluctance of the federal government to approve any more off-reservation casino deals.
"I think right now, before we resolve that, is the resolution of the lack of taxes that we're receiving for a number of different items," Paterson said when asked about the casino talks.
Paterson said that while he recognizes the Seneca Nation is a sovereign territory, there exists "unfair competition for New York's commercial entities that are in those places" near the reservations. Non-Indian retailers say they are at a sizeable competitive disadvantage when it comes to going head-to-head with cigarette sales against Indian retailers who do not charge state and local excise and sales taxes.
"I am certainly willing to entertain discussions," Paterson said of casino talks with the Senecas. "But, I'm really not interested in taking motion in a direction until I feel there is equity that we have with a number of the (Indian) nations."
The Senecas are engaged in a deal with Rotate Black Gaming Inc., Mich., to develop a Catskills casino. The facility would be located in Monticello, just 90 minutes from mid-town Manhattan. The Senecas recently took ownership of a 63-acre parcel of land from Black Rock.
Seneca officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
February 11, 2009, Mid Hudsion News: Seneca officials initiate casino talks with governor’s office
Seneca officials initiate casino talks with governor’s office
link to complete article is here:
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/February09/11/Seneca_casino-11Feb09.html
ALBANY - Officials of the Seneca Nation of Indians and its Seneca Catskills Gaming Corporation met Tuesday in Albany with officials in the governor’s office to initiate discussions about building a Seneca-owned resort in the Catskill Mountains.
The Seneca Nation and Rotate Black Gaming, Inc. of Michigan announced last month that they have an exclusive agreement to develop and manage a Class III gaming resort in the Catskills that is projected to produce $160 million in direct payments to state and local governments when it’s complete.
The Seneca Nation, based on six territories in Western New York, has had the exclusive agreement with Rotate Black for the last 18 months to develop and manage what would be the first full scale casino in Sullivan County.
The estimated payments to New York governments would exceed the annual total of what is paid to governments by the Nation’s three existing casinos in Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca in Western New York.
“As we embark on this great opportunity for the state and the Nation, we seek cooperation so everyone gains, as is the case with the state, and local governments in Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca,” said Kevin Seneca, the Nation’s treasurer from 2006-08. “We had a good meeting to review the challenges ahead and understand what each side’s priorities are.”
In 2002, the state Legislature authorized development of three Indian casinos in the Catskills region. The Seneca Nation has long had an interest in the Catskills as an opportunity to establish a Class III gaming facility.
Rotate Black acquired a 63-acre parcel of land in the Town of Thompson near exit 107 on Route 17 and recently transferred the land to the Nation. The Nation holds the land in “fee status” and pays taxes on it until the United States puts the land in restricted fee or trust status. The previous administration in Washington was opposed to trust status for Native American casinos in the Catskills. It is hoped the new administration will change that position.
Rotate Black projects that a fully developed Catskills casino will generate approximately $160 million in exclusivity fees to state and local governments, which is greater than what is currently being paid annually to state and local governments under the Nation’s existing Class III compact for its three Western New York casinos.
The envisioned casino project is slated to include an all-suites hotel, enclosed pool environment, multiple restaurants, banquet facilities, food court, and spa.
February 8, 2009, Kingston Daily Freeman: Changes in store at former Ashokan Field Campus
By WILLIAM J. KEMBLE
Correspondent
link to complete article is here:
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/02/08/news/doc498e698f69dc9308739558.prt
OLIVEBRIDGE — The Ashokan Foundation has hired Deborah Meyer DeWan as deputy director to guide changes at the 374-acre former Ashokan Field Campus.
DeWan said immediate plans are to replace five buildings on the site — now called the Ashokan Center — with structures that are better for the environment.
“It’s taking us into the direction of ‘green’ buildings and sustainable living,” DeWan said. “It really is to incorporate in our facilities the very things that we teach, what we learn from the land and what we learned from the history of this place. This is very much a living history center. A lot of things that we teach here, and that people experience here, relate to things that have been traditional activities in the Catskills.”
The property, on Beaver Kill Road near the Ashokan Reservoir, was renamed the Ashokan Center after the New York City-based Open Space Institute bought it in May 2008 from Campus Auxiliary Services for $2.19 million. As the Ashokan Field Campus, the site was used by SUNY New Paltz, as well as local school and scout groups, among others.
Ashokan Center Director Tim Neu said he and others who oversee the site are glad it will continue to be used for environmental purposes.
“The property could have been bought by an entity that would not have continued the public-access programs,” he said. “Our worst fear was that it could have been bought by a developer that would not have seen the value of the programs we offer to the public and the schools and just saw it as a piece of real estate to potentially develop.”
Neu also said that with site now independent of SUNY New Paltz, there are fewer operational complications.
“As part of SUNY New Paltz, we really were not able to actively do fundraising, and as an independent organization now, we’re free of that constraint,” he said. “So it will be an opportunity to grow both the programs and the facility.”
Neu said programs conducted by the center evolve with the needs of groups that use the facility.
Neu said the site has proven conducive to programs that benefit from the wooded surroundings.
“Jay and Molly (local musicians Jay Ungar and Molly Mason) do four programs here throughout the year concerning music and dance,” he said. “There’s a teen play acting camp that is here four times a year. There’s a blacksmithing group that’s here twice a year, a knife-making group that’s here once a here, and there are Girl Scout groups, Boy Scout groups, church groups and a wide variety of different groups that fall into the retreat category.”
EVENTS planned through September at the center include:
• Feb. 13-16: Winter Songs music workshop.
• Feb. 27: EnergySmart teachers’ workshop.
• Feb. 28: 15th annual Winterfest.
• March 7: Maple sugaring open house.
• April 18: Earth Day celebration.
• April 25-26: Girl Scout Badge Weekend.
• May 1-3: N.E. Blacksmiths.
• June 27: Western and swing dancing and concert.
• June 28 to July 4: Western and Swing Week.
• July 5-10: The Wayfinder Experience.
• July 18: Contra dance.
• July 19-25: Northern Week music and dance workshop.
• July 26 to Aug. 1: The Wayfinder Experience.
• Aug. 8: Cajun dance and concert.
• Aug. 9-15: Southern Week music and dance workshop.
• Aug. 10-23: The Wayfinder Experience.
• Sept. 4-6: Catskill Mountain Eco-Heritage Festival.
Program information is available at (845) 657-8333.
February 6, 2009, Kingston Daily Freeman: Residents sound off on Woodstock Commons
Residents sound off on Woodstock Commons
By WILLIAM J. KEMBLE
Correspondent
link to full article is here:
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/02/06/news/doc498bb0b677a5c909710510.txt
WOODSTOCK — Town Planning Board members on Thursday heard diametrically opposing views during a public hearing on the proposed 53-unit Woodstock Commons project.
The hearing attracted a standing-room-only audience of more than 200 people at the Woodstock Community Center.
Support for the project proposed for 27 acres behind the Bradley Meadows shopping plaza on state Route 212 came from residents who said there has been a long-standing need for affordable housing.
“Eleven years ago I first moved to Woodstock as a single mother of two,” resident Carol Buskey said. “In the first four years I lived here I moved three times. This was either due to substandard housing, houses that were expensive to heat because they were not insulated, it was due in some cases to being at the mercy of absentee landlords and eventually it was due to (a) rent increase that made it financially prohibitive to live there anymore.”
Resident Nadia Steinzor noted the proposed site was recommended by the town Affordable Housing Committee, which in 2003 invited the Rural Ulster Preservation Corp. to propose a plan for affordable residential units.
“Since that time the town has done virtually nothing to advance affordable housing or comprehensive planning,” she said. “Despite that Woodstock’s own zoning law includes guidelines to encourage the development of low- and moderate-income and senior citizens’ housing in the town.”
Resident Steve Yoder said concerns over additional vehicles were understandable but were not consistent with existing traffic problems.
“Our biggest traffic problems are not the result of full-time residents but of Woodstock’s status as a weekend and summer destination,” he said.
The project was proposed about five years ago and reduced to the current 53 units after opposition was voiced at past public informational sessions to an 81-unit proposal that included a community center and was later changed to a 63-unit proposal without the center.
Among consistent concerns was the effect on wetlands and wildlife due to traffic during construction.
Resident Andrea Newman-Winston said lighting needed for the project would shine onto her property.
“RUPCO’s need to put in proper lighting, which may resemble the lighting for Dietz Stadium, is understandable but it will disturb the dark of the uninhabited area, the wildlife that resides in that area and all the neighbors in the area and on the mountain that looks down on this area,” she said.
“If this project continues on the site now proposed my house will be all but destroyed,” Newman-Winston said. “The increased traffic will increase the vibrations my house needs to withstand. The traffic will increase the dust in the air opening up problems to my house and to my health.”
Ulster County Legislator Donald J. Gregorius, D-Woodstock, said anticipated problems with the project outweigh the proposed benefits and that property tax rates will increase because of breaks given to RUPCO.
“It is reasonable to believe that eligible at-risk people from surrounding towns and counties will be applying to live here and that (there will be a limited) window of opportunity for Woodstockers to get housing in Woodstock Commons,” he said. “Yet, other Woodstockers will be subsidizing the project.”
Resident Peter Remler also said the project is not expected to benefit people who currently live in the town.
“We began this venture with the express purpose of providing affordable housing for the people of Woodstock but since the project fell into the hands of outsiders its purpose has become subverted and now it serves their interest, not ours,” he said. “RUPCO’s selections will be chosen by lottery open to all. In fact, it’s quite possible not a single Woodstocker will ever live there.”
The public hearing, which heard from about half of the 90 people signed up for comment, was recessed until 6 p.m. next Thursday at the Community Center.
February 6, 2009, New York Times: Havens | Delhi, N.Y. Vintage Homes and Postcard Panoramas
Havens | Delhi, N.Y.
link to complete article is here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/greathomesanddestinations/06havens.html?8dpc
link to complete article is here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/greathomesanddestinations/06havens.html?8dpc
Vintage Homes and Postcard Panoramas
Jennifer May for The New York Times
Zoey Gardepe with her sled on a hillside on the SUNY Delhi campus overlooking the village. More Photos >
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FARMING the scoop-shaped hills of Delhi, N.Y., turns up “two stones for every dirt,” a local saying goes. But 19th-century settlers in this upstate town persevered. They learned to scratch out a living, and eventually earned a national reputation for their butter, which sometimes fed hungry prospectors out in the Wild West.
The dairy farms today have dwindled from the hundreds that used to surround Delhi (pronounced DELL-hi) and neighboring towns like Franklin, Hamden and Walton, which curl up against the Catskills, between the Susquehanna River and the West Branch of the Delaware River.
But a similar pioneering do-it-yourself spirit still stirs the region’s second-home owners, who have discovered its vintage homes full of period wide-plank floors, pocket doors and eyebrow moldings. Designers, professors, musicians and doctors are among those who are renovating them, making up for decades of neglect.
Those old homes grace a deeply rural landscape of former one-room schoolhouses and roadside stands selling Boer-goat meat. The clear sky fans out in all directions and the area often feels farther away from New York City than 150 miles.
Real estate prices, too, can seem a world apart. Although the restored properties with rambling stone walls and meadows can ultimately resemble spreads in getaways like, say, Litchfield County in Connecticut, their prices are minuscule by comparison, local real estate agents say.
Lawrence Lewis, a Manhattan gemologist, bought an 1820 farmhouse on 25 acres in adjacent Franklin for $380,000 in 2005.
When Mr. Lewis arrived, the green-shuttered home was abandoned, save for 13 garden snakes living in the fieldstone foundation. Today, though, the cleaned-up 2,500-square-foot house comfortably fits 18 guests for dinner.
Summers find Mr. Lewis lounging by the property’s spring-fed pond. But this time of year, he’s likely to be cross-country skiing on nearby trails that pass “mountains and little bridges and open fields and these great expanses,” he said. “The views are pristine.”
The Scene
Delhi has a population of about 4,600, according to a recent Census Bureau estimate, and its village is the region’s liveliest gathering place. It includes a well-kept three-block Main Street with two wine stores, the Steinway Book Company bookstore and a sushi restaurant.
The Quarter Moon Cafe serves panko-crusted shrimp ($9.95) and seared hanger steak with green peppercorn sauce ($12.95) beneath a chandelier made of roofing flashing. On a recent Saturday, three men sat at the bar, which serves 50 bottled beers, including Ommegang from nearby Cooperstown, and compared notes on a kayaking trip.
Although 2,971 students are enrolled across the street from the cafe at a New York State University campus, they maintain a low profile, locals say. Some spoils from the school’s presence, though, include the 50-acre SUNY Delhi Outdoor Education Center, whose paths by the Little Delaware River are popular with hikers (and their dogs) year-round.
Dropping by a neighbor’s house usually requires a car trip. The towns that dot the area also offer limited night life, so residents often have to entertain themselves, said Zonder Kennedy, a professional guitarist from Manhattan. His three-bedroom A-frame in Hamden cost $253,000 in 2005, he said.
“There’s usually not a lot going on unless you create it, which is perfect because I don’t want social obligations,” said Mr. Kennedy, who has formed a “roots-rock-punk-blues” band called Scoville Junkies with local residents. “I’m here for the sunsets and the tranquillity,” he added, “and the whole vibe.”
In season, two local theaters stage surprisingly good performances, says Julian Peploe, a CD-cover designer from Manhattan. Mr. Peploe began clearing land by hand in 2002 for his own retreat; it includes 87 acres, a 2,100-square-foot Colonial-style modular home, garage and pool, and cost $750,000 altogether.
His favorite is West Kortright Centre, a 200-seat former Presbyterian church that from May to November offers chamber music, square dancers and gospel singers. The more traditional Franklin Stage Company sticks to classics like Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and Ibsen’s “Doll’s House.”
“There was this huge hippie exodus up here in the 1970s,” Mr. Peploe explained, “so there are many creative types around.”
Diversions are also found outdoors, even during cold snaps. Mr. Peploe snow-tubes in Roxbury and snowshoes on his wooded property. And venturing farther afield isn’t usually a problem. Of Delaware County’s 939,000 acres, development is restricted on much of it, and many areas are open to the public.
The most active conservation force is New York City, which routinely buys up land in the valley to protect its drinking water, which flows from there. Some year-rounders complain when those acquisitions result in bans on snowmobiles. Second-home owners, though, tend to support the watershed purchases, because they ensure postcard-worthy panoramas.
What didn’t go over so well, though, was the 2006 plan to install tall power-generating wind turbines on ridges in the nearby town of Meredith. They were ultimately banned after spirited protests from part-timers.
Pros
Unlike the eastern Catskills, which are still thick with old resorts, Delhi and its 64.57 square miles are still largely wild. Although some vacation homes have sprouted, pastures often return to the way they looked 200 years ago when farms vanish.
Cons
Floods almost washed Walton away in 2006, and other streams periodically slip their banks. But the weather talk this season concerned an Oct. 28 storm that dropped a foot of snow.
The Real Estate Market
Buyers who want secluded older houses on plenty of land look on Case Hill or Snake Hill Roads, or County Route 21. Those homes, often Italianate in style, need restoring and sit on parcels of 20 acres or so; they sell for about $170,000, local agents say.
Other buyers don’t want the work of maintaining large properties and so pick the village sections of Franklin, Walton or Delhi, or the hamlet of Treadwell.
Those houses, in the Stick style with decorative porches on one-eighth-acre lots behind tall oaks on Clinton and Franklin Streets in Delhi, come on the market less often than outlying properties, agents say, and sell for $250,000.
Like the market nationwide, home sales have slowed in and around Delhi. But among those homes still selling, prices have actually increased slightly.
The average price of the 64 homes sold in the area in the last six months of 2008 was $170,800, according to state sales data, compared with $143,600 for the 99 homes sold a year earlier.
The explanation may be that the lower-income buyers of the cheaper properties have not been able to get mortgages, said Barbara Roberts, a broker with Prudential Fox Properties.
“There’s been a move to higher-end properties among buyers who are priced out of Woodstock” and don’t mind a longer commute, she said.
And homes are taking longer to sell. The 104 homes currently for sale have an average price of $242,600, and have been on the market for an average of 223 days, up from 168 in 2008.
Eric Lysdahl, a Manhattan interior designer, has felt the slowdown firsthand. In August, he listed his Federal-style home in Delhi village for $289,000 with the idea of relocating to a farm on the outskirts. But after four months with no offers on the three-bedroom 1,800-square-foot home, which had cost less than $150,000 in 2004, he took it off the market, content to stay put.
“We have an exquisite, picture-perfect house,” he said, “that can still be a refuge every weekend.”
February 2, 2009, Times Herald Record: Developer envisions 2,600 homes plus resort in tiny Forestburgh
Developer envisions 2,600 homes plus resort in tiny Forestburgh
var isoPubDate = 'February 02, 2009'FORESTBURGH — Developers have pitched Sullivan County's largest housing proposal in its smallest town, planning houses and luxurious amenities on a huge piece of property, where pine trees grow for miles.
For the Town of Forestburgh and its 900 residents, the scale of this project is unprecedented. Double Diamond Resorts, a Texas-based developer, wants to build more than 2,600 homes just off Cold Spring Road. The half-community, half-resort project also calls for an 18-hole golf course, restaurant, hotel, spa and other recreational amenities, most of which will be open to the public. Double Diamond is calling it "Lost Lake Resort," after the 52-acre lake on its 2,091-acre property.
Proposals like these are galore in Sullivan, but many are never built. Town Supervisor Jim Galligan says Double Diamond has shown signs it will follow through on its paper plans. The company has built 17 similar projects across the country. Its top executives have flown into the Sullivan County Airport to attend local hearings and answer the myriad questions that come with such a complex project.
"They're a pretty big outfit," Galligan said. "And they do what they tell you they're going to do."
Double Diamond's proposal has piqued the interest of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which is now tussling with Forestburgh officials over who will lead the project's environmental review. The DEC wants to take charge because the project borders state parkland and could impact regional resources like bald eagles and the nearby Neversink River, it said.
"This is an extraordinary project," said Willie Janeway, director of the DEC's Region 3. "We would usually defer to the towns, unless the impacts rise to a level where they are regional and state impacts."
Galligan fears that a state review would delay the project, which stands to boost Forestburgh's tax base by $33 million. He thinks Forestburgh could handle the project quicker, not because its review would be less stringent, but because Lost Lake would be priority No. 1 on the town's already short agenda. The Town Board has hired an experienced engineering company, C.T. Male & Associates of Latham, to review Double Diamond's plan.
"It will be our main focus, while the DEC has to review thousands of projects," Galligan said.
Town lawmakers are enthusiastic about the project because of its potential to boost the tax base and create new jobs. Many residents are concerned about issues like density and traffic on sparsely traveled country roads. Galligan said the number of lots proposed can be misleading because residents of other Double Diamond projects purchased several lots for privacy, but only built one home. Lost Lake could more than triple the population of Forestburgh if the full scale of its plan is built. Lawmakers expect shovel to hit dirt no sooner than 2012.
Recession? What recession?
It might be true the housing market is tanking, especially the new home construction industry where national builders such as D.R. Horton lost billions last year and pulled out of New York.
But you wouldn't know it by surveying plans for more than 5,000 homes, condos and apartments in Sullivan's core development corridor.
In Thompson, 11 new projects are in the pipeline for 2,833 units, with the biggest being developer Robert Berman's Rock Hill Town Center, a 1,340 home, condo and townhouse proposal in Rock Hill that's targeting future employees of a reborn Concord and expanding Stewart International Airport.
In Fallsburg, 18 major housing projects before the Planning Board propose 2,411 units, a mixture of second homes, townhouses, condos and apartment units in a town with lots of seasonal homes and bungalows.
But the numbers are deceptive, town officials say. Several major housing projects fizzled last year, even ones that seemed like sure bets.
In Fallsburg, D.R. Horton, the nation's largest homebuilder, last summer walked away from its approved subdivision The Grande in Hurleyville after building just 15 of 111 homes, and is trying to sell the property. Pulte Homes, another national builder, has put plans on hold for 450 units near Morningside Park.
Still, plans keep coming. "I think what they are anticipating is by the time they get approval, the market will get vibrant again, so there will be money to invest in building," Building Inspector Allen Frishman said.
Thompson Planning Board Chairman Jim Lyttle says scores of developers, even in good times, disappeared when they couldn't get backing to build.
"Just with the economy, you ain't going to see anything happen."
Victor Whitman
January 27, 2009, Albany Times Union: Editorial Blasting Catskills Casino Scheme "Bad, Worse Bets"
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| http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=763952&category=OPINION | |
| First published: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 |
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| Wow. Talk about playing long shots. Talk about dreaming dangerously.
The push to bring gambling to the Catskills is on anew, with three state legislators from the region and near it showing the go-for-broke sort of thinking you'd expect in the wee hours in a bleak casino from the most down-and-out sort of bettor. Assemblymen Gary Pretlow, D-Westchester County; Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Sullivan County; and Sen. John Bonacic, R-Orange County, want casinos in the Catskills, all right ? where the action would include legal betting on professional sports. Imagine. The mountains of New York would have an unseemly touch of the deserts and glitz of Nevada. The underside of big-time sports gambling would be ever closer to the New York City region, which has no fewer than seven professional sports franchises. There's a reason why an otherwise growing and thriving city like Las Vegas has no professional sports. None of the leagues have any desire to be so near a place where legal sports betting is a booming industry. Bringing sports betting to the Catskills is full of obstacles, fortunately. Turning the New York Jets or the New York Knicks into playoff-caliber teams would be easy by comparison. The federal government would have to add New York to its very short list of states ? currently that's just Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon ? where sports betting is permitted. Mr. Pretlow, Mrs. Gunther and Mr. Bonacic know all that, too. That's why they have a somewhat safer bet to cover their truly outlandish bet. They're also pushing for legislation that would allow for casino gambling at three Catskills locations. Even that would require amending the state constitution and getting the approval of New York voters to allow for casinos not built by Native American tribes or on grounds held in trust by the federal government for a tribe. There are better and so much less risky ways to revive the regional economy of a struggling part of New York. Economic development doesn't have to bring all the social costs of legal gambling. That these legislators would so much as propose casinos featuring what are known in the betting world as Las Vegas-style sports books is mind-boggling. Another far-fetched notion or two, and perhaps some of their constituents would consider long shots of their own ? namely running against legislative incumbents. The issue: The push for casinos in the Catskills includes a plan for sports betting. The Stakes: Not a good idea, New York, not by a long shot. To comment: [email protected] |
January 31, 2008, Kingston Daily Freeman:Paterson tax plan could hurt communities in Catskills and Adirondacks, some leaders say
Paterson tax plan could hurt communities in Catskills and Adirondacks, some leaders say
By The Associated Press
ALBANY — Local government leaders and environmentalists say communities across New York would be devastated by Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to cap property taxes paid on state-owned land.
Paterson’s 2009-10 budget proposal to cap tax payments at 2008 levels hits hardest in the Adirondacks and Catskills, where the state owns millions of acres. But it applies to certain state-owned land from Long Island to Jamestown.
John Sheehan, spokesman for the Adirondack Council, said the proposal would be especially harsh for communities in the Adirondack Park where as much as 90 percent of land in some towns is state-owned.
“We’re dead set against the governor’s proposal,” Sheehan said Friday. “We’re working with more than 100 local governments in the Adirondacks and Catskills to fight it.”
In a letter dated Jan. 12, members of the Tug Hill Region Councils of Governments in central New York asked Paterson to reconsider his executive budget proposal to amend Section 544 of the real property tax law to cap the state’s payment of taxes on certain lands across the state.
The proposal would save the state $9 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year and $16 million in 2010-11, said Jeffrey Gordon, spokesman for the Division of Budget. He said local governments could minimize the impact on private landowners by finding ways to cut municipal spending.
“Given the state’s fiscal situation, Governor Paterson has proposed to reduce spending or maintain it at current levels in every area,” Gordon said. “At a time when the state is experiencing a dramatic decrease in revenues, the governor has called on all entities, including local governments, to also find ways to reduce spending.”
Local governments are still trying to quantify the impact the proposal would have. In 2008, the state paid $69 million in local taxes on its 2.7 million acres in the Adirondack Park and 288,000 acres in the Catskill Park. That’s up from $48 million 10 years ago, Sheehan said.
In the Essex County town of Newcomb, which has fewer than 500 year-round residents, 84 percent of land is owned by the state. Town officials say a freeze would mean that a 5 percent increase in town spending would trigger a 31 percent jump in the tax rate paid by private property owners.
“I think it’s a horrible mistake,” said Bill Farber, chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors. “This is not a model of shared sacrifice. This is a huge shift of the burden to the local taxpayers in the park.”
State Sen. Betty Little, a Queensbury Republican, said the proposal calls for an unfair sacrifice by Adirondack private property owners, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet.
Little was among Adirondack officials signing a letter from the Common Ground Alliance, an ad hoc group that urged Paterson to drop the idea.
“Private individuals living on tight budgets don’t have the option of deciding how much property tax they pay, and neither should the state,” the Jan. 8 letter noted.
Environmental groups fear that if the state backs out of its promise to pay the same amount of property taxes as private landowners do, opposition will increase to state acquisition of pristine land tracts for preservation.
“We’re concerned that there would be a drumbeat for lifting the forever wild restrictions on forest preserve so towns could make money on it,” Sheehan said. “Taxes have been a form of insulation for the forest preserve, relieving local pressure to develop land and easing opposition to additions being made to state holdings.”
Sandy Galef, chairwoman of the state Assembly’s property tax committee, said she would recommend a one-year cap on the property taxes paid by the state, rather than a permanent freeze at the 2008 level.
