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PILOT Agreements Offer Incentives to CNY Businesses Payments In Lieu of Tax Agreements Offer Incentives to CNY Businesses

By Ian Toner

(Track 1) Suzanne Slack is the chief number cruncher at the Syracuse City School District. It’s her job to manage the tax dollars funding the city’s schools.
{***SOT FULL***} (CG: xxx) [TAKE SOT
NAME:Suzanne Slack
DURATION:0’08”] (“For economic development, sometimes communities have to make concessions to encourage businesses to stay or to come to Syracuse or grow their business.”)
(Track 2) Central New York governments have made those concessions through PILOT agreements, short for payments in lieu of taxes. Instead of paying full property tax rates every year, companies signing PILOTs can make cheaper payments to local governments over several years. There IS a catch for the local community…
{*** SOT FULL ***} [TAKE SOT
NAME:Slack
DURATION:0’04”] (“There is a period of time where the school is not receiving school taxes.”)
{***SOT FULL***} (CG: xxx )
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TonerPILOTs Duration: 2:23 [TAKE SOT
NAME:Nora Spillane
DURATION:0’08”] (“It is not giving back tax money that has already been paid to the government, it’s a reduction in future taxes.”)
(Track 3) Nora Spillane worked on PILOT agreements in past roles at the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County. When those governments consider PILOTs…
{***SOT FULL***} (CG: xxx ) [TAKE SOT
NAME:Spillane
DURATION:0’06”] (“The goal is to create good, sustaining jobs that are gonna be there for the long term.”)
{*** SOT FULL ***} [TAKE SOT
NAME:Ian Toner
DURATION:0’16”] (“Earlier this year, JMA Wireless, headquartered here in Clay, entered into a PILOT agreement with the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency to transform this former laundry plant on Syracuse’s south side into a communications equipment factory.”)
(Track 4) The company will receive nearly three million dollars in property tax breaks over fifteen years, with the expectation of creating 100 jobs at the new factory. Some see those breaks as a cost of doing business…
{*** SOT FULL ***}
[TAKE SOT
Printed:2/26/2020 3:35 PM by Ian Toner Page 2
TonerPILOTs Duration: 2:23 NAME:Pat Hogan
DURATION:0’03”] (“You have to find a way to like, be in the game. It’s all about competition.”)
(Track 5) Syracuse Common Councilor Pat Hogan chairs the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency. He says if his group didn’t broker PILOTs with certain businesses…
{*** SOT FULL ***}
[TAKE SOT
NAME:Hogan
DURATION:0’02”] (“They would simply just move up the Thruway.”)
(Track 6) And take their jobs to another town with lower taxes or a sweeter PILOT agreement. But even though it may hurt companies’ bottom lines today, Slack says paying higher taxes can actually help companies committed to their communities in the long run.
{*** SOT FULL ***} [TAKE SOT
NAME:Slack
DURATION:0’06”] (“If we have funding to do great things with educating kids, it better prepares the workforce for the organizations to hire tomorrow.”)
(Track 7) In Syracuse, Ian Toner. N-C-C News knows, and now you do, too.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – For years, Central New York governments have entered into special agreements with businesses hoping to relocate to or expand in the region. Payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, permit these businesses to make cheaper payments to local governments over several years instead of paying full property tax rates every year.

“It is not giving back tax money that has already been paid to the government,” said CenterState CEO Senior Director Honora Spillane, who worked on PILOT agreements in past roles for the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County.

“It’s a reduction in future taxes,” she explained. “The goal is to create good, sustaining jobs that are going to be there for the long term.”

For instance, earlier this year, Clay-headquartered JMA Wireless entered into a PILOT agreement with the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency to transform the former Coyne Textile Industrial Plant on Syracuse’s south side into a communications equipment factory.

JMA Wireless will receive nearly $3 million in property tax breaks over 15 years, and the company is expected to create 100 jobs at the new factory.

“It’s all about competition,” said Syracuse Common Councilor Pat Hogan, who also chairs the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency.

Hogan argued that if OCIDA didn’t broker PILOTs with certain businesses, “they would simply just move up the thruway,” searching for another municipality willing to offer them competing incentives.

“For economic development, sometimes communities have to make concessions to encourage businesses to stay or to come to Syracuse or grow their business,” said Syracuse City School District Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Slack, whose responsibilities include managing the tax dollars funding the city’s schools.

At the same time, Slack believes companies paying higher tax rates today end up reaping longer-term benefits, provided those companies stay in the same community.

“If we have funding to do great things with educating kids, it better prepares the workforce for the organizations to hire tomorrow,” she said.

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