Thanks to all 124 of you who have signed the petition to stop the IDA from granting a new PILOT to Athens Gen. The results and message have been sent to the IDA which is meeting tomorrow at 8 am. This effort may fail but only when large numbers of people speak out can change be affected. We will see. I will be shutting down the petition and may, therefore, not be able to share further information from this platform. If you would like to be informed of results, please send me your email address if you are not on my current listserv. cariyogi@gmail.com.
This is the message which was sent to the IDA:
Members of the Greene County IDA,
Attached is the list of signers, to a petition, who do not want the Athens Gen PILOT to be renewed. This petition has been circulated for 1 week. It is understood that the public comment period had passed, yet obviously, most residents had no knowledge of this issue. This shows that once people, near and far, learn about the issue they are against the granting of a “new” PILOT to Athens Gen. Had there been time to get to more residents, the numbers of signers, clearly, would have been much higher. However, being you are meeting tomorrow morning, you need to see these petition results now. This message was also sent to the GC Legislators, Athens Town Council and the Catskill School Board and Superintendent as they are all stakeholders in. re. the PILOT. While there are environmental issues, in the long term (reducing reliance on fossil fuels in order to prevent further heating of our planet), we understand this plant is here to stay – for the time being. However, there is no good reason to grant this PILOT to an aging business already entrenched in the county. The only real value to granting a PILOT is to encourage new business to a locale. Athens Gen isn’t going away any time soon. Whereas taxing this corporation, as any other business is taxed, will benefit the stakeholders.
FYI, here is a response from one of the local signers of this petition to one of the County Legislators who tried to dispute the contents of the petition:
“Athens has a legal, fully enforceable assessment. There are legal procedures for Athens Gen to challenge it. They have the burden of proof. Appraisals would be done later within the proceedings. You are putting the burden in the wrong place (on Athens) and putting the cart before the horse. You are speaking entirely out of school when you say the PILOT is more than full tax and when you predict the outcome of a tax certiorari. You haven't the qualifications and you haven't done any homework to back that up. You are the one that is engaging in unsubstantiated speculation. I know what due diligence is. I don't think you do, and I know you haven't done it. Shuttering the plant is a red herring whether introduced by you/IDA to justify the PILOT or introduced by an environmentalist to oppose the PILOT. It's not going to happen. They are going to continue to employ because it is in their best interest (profit) to do so, not because it is a favor to the community. Dual fuel (not co-gen) of oil and natural gas are both fossil fuels. As a citizen of Greene County, you disappoint me.”
It is the hope that the GC IDA will recognize that the PILOT is a bad idea and completely unnecessary.
It is the hope, and expectation, that ultimately the GC IDA decides not to grant this PILOT.
Cari Gardner 518-444-4593
Athens