ACTION ALERT | SENSIBLE SOLAR FOR RURAL NY URGENTLY NEEDS YOUR HELP TODAY!
Governor Cuomo and the New York State Senate and Assembly are finalizing the State's FY 2022 Budget, and it currently includes a provision that would allow solar and wind developers to pay less in local, county and school taxes. Please help us ensure the Governor's Office and NYS Senate Leadership know there is statewide opposition to this provision. It's critical that they hear from us today!
Both NYS Senator Daphne Jordan and Assemblymember Didi Barrett are working tirelessly to stop this provision from being included in the budget, but we must amplify our opposition!
Send your message to Governor Cuomo via the Governor's website, and then email the NYS State Senate Leadership and copy NYS Senator Daphne Jordan and Assemblymember Didi Barrett. Email addresses and a template letter you can cut-and-paste are below.
Governor Andrew Cuomo -- cut and paste your message onto the Governor's website contact form at:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form
NYS Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
scousins@nysenate.gov
NYS Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris
gianaris@nysenate.gov
Senator Daphne Jordan
jordan@nysenate.gov
Assemblymember Didi Barrett
barrettd@nyassembly.gov
Dear Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Senate Deputy Majority Leader Gianaris,
As a resident of a rural community in upstate New York, I am urging Governor Cuomo and the New York State Senate to omit a provision from the FY 2022 Executive Budget that would create a standard methodology for the assessment of wind and solar projects. Please oppose and remove from the budget Rev Part X Promote the Development of Renewable Energy Projects.
This provision is being advanced by foreign and out-of-state solar developers who do not want to pay their fair share of local, county and school taxes when they develop large-scale projects in rural communities. If this provision is included in the budget, rural communities across New York will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. At a time when local, county and school budgets are suffering due to the Covid pandemic, this is not the time for elected officials to shortchange the communities they represent.
While I strongly support the State’s renewable energy goals, it should not be at the expense of our rural communities’ tax base, prime farmland, natural resources, rural viewsheds, and tourism and agriculture-dependent economies.
I urge Governor Cuomo and the New York State Senate and Assembly to put the best interests of rural New York ahead of renewable energy developers. As such, I strongly oppose any proposal that would circumvent local laws and erode home rule authority, including requiring local assessors to value solar or wind energy systems using a State-determined income capitalization or discounted cash flow approach.
Let's do what's right and fair for rural New York!
Sincerely,