General
Pursuant to Section 874 of the Act and Section 412-a of the Real Property Tax Law, property owned by or under the jurisdiction or supervision or control of the Agency is exempt from general real estate taxes but not exempt from special assessments and special ad valorem levies. However, it is the general policy of the Agency that, notwithstanding the foregoing, every non governmental project will be required to enter into a payment in lieu of tax agreement (a “PILOT Agreement”), either separately or as part of the project documents. Such PILOT Agreement shall require payment of PILOT payments in accordance with the provisions set forth below.
PILOT Requirement
Unless the applicant and/or project occupant and the Agency shall have entered into a PILOT Agreement acceptable to the Agency, the project documents shall provide that the Agency will not file a New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Division of Equalization and Assessment Form EA-412-a (an “Exemption Form”) with respect to the project, and the project documents shall provide that the applicant and/or the project occupant shall be required to make PILOT payments in such amounts as would result from taxes being levied on the project by the taxing jurisdictions if the project were not owned by or under the jurisdiction or supervision or control of the Agency. The project documents shall provide that, if the Agency and the applicant and/or project occupant have entered into a PILOT Agreement, the terms of the PILOT Agreement shall control the amount of PILOT payments until the expiration or sooner termination of such agreement.
PILOT Agreement
Unless otherwise determined by resolution of the Agency, all PILOT Agreements shall satisfy the following general conditions: Amount of Exemption: The general policy of the Agency is to allow the assessor of the municipality in which the project is located to ascertain the BASE assessed value of a project under the jurisdiction of the Agency as of the date of the PILOT Agreement. The BASE value generally is the assessed value of the land and the improvements as it exists as of the date of the PILOT Agreement. Once the assessed BASE value is established it will remain the BASE for the term of the PILOT Agreement and one hundred percent of all taxes assessed by the respective taxing jurisdictions will be paid on the BASE value. The assessed value of the eligible improvements on the property, once determined will be reduced by the exemption percentage established by the Agency, and the resulting value will become the value for PILOT purposes (the “PILOT value”). The PILOT payment will then be computed for each taxing jurisdiction in each year by multiplying the PILOT value by the applicable tax rate of the respective taxing jurisdictions in such year.
Uniform Tax Exemption Schedules
Manufacturing, Industrial, and Research & Development
Base PILOT
Eligible projects are limited to manufacturing,
re-manufacturing, assembly processing, warehouse, wholesale/distribution, research and development, and software development.
New Construction* PILOT
- Continue to pay 100% of taxes on land and existing buildings
- Continue to pay 100% of water, sewer, and special assessments
- 100% exemption for 5 years
- 50% exemption for the next 5 years
- 0% exemption for the 11th year and onward
Other Eligible Projects
Base PILOT
Eligible projects permitted by General Municipal Law except as otherwise mentioned in this policy.
New Construction* PILOT
- Continue to pay 100% of taxes on land and existing buildings
- Continue to pay 100% of water, sewer, and special assessments
- 50% exemption for 5 years
- 25% exemption for the next 5 years
- 0% exemption for the 11th year and onward
Hotels, Mixed Use, Commercial, Housing, Apartments, Planned Unit Developments, Resorts, and Planned Recreational Developments
- Resorts destination for vacation or recreation.
- Planned Unit Developments for condominiums, commercial property such as retail stores, or any combination of these types. Mixed Use and Apartment projects.
- Planned Recreational Developments with public facilities designed and used to provide recreational opportunities to the public.
Base PILOT
- Continue to pay 100% of taxes on land and existing buildings
- Continue to pay 100% of water, sewer, and special assessments
New Construction* PILOT
- Exemptions start at 50% and decline 5% each year until the 10th year.
- At the 11th year, the exemption will be 0%.
- An accelerated exemption may be considered.
Green/Renewable Power Facilities
Hydro, solar, wind, transmission line and renewable facilities can be offered a minimum of a 10-year PILOT arrangements. The Agency may consider extending the exemption period up to 30 years if the project sponsor can demonstrate an extension is critical to the economic viability of the project. PILOTs will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
* New Construction is defined as improvements, renovations, or expansion to existing properties as may be approved by the Agency.
Special District Taxes
As indicated above, the Agency is not exempt from special assessments and special ad valorem levies, and accordingly these amounts are not subject to exemption by reason of ownership of the Project by the Agency. The PILOT Agreement shall make this clear and shall require that all such amounts be directly paid by the applicant and/or project occupant. However, applicant and project occupants should be aware that the courts have ruled that an Agency sponsored project is eligible to apply for a tax-exemption under Section 485-b of the Real Property Tax Law.