Throwing Hamburger to the Guard Dogs While You Rob the Bank

Aug. 4, 2020

Kingston, NY – The Kingstonian’s developers have offered to raise their PILOT from $28,488 with a 3% annual raise to $40,000 with a 3% annual raise. Over 25 years the difference between their first PILOT offer and the new and improved PILOT offer is…. drum roll…. $419,719. They also offered to increase their profit sharing (of a percentage over projected profits) from 3% to 5%. Please remember that this is a tiny percentage of any surplus ABOVE the profit they are projecting. Projected numbers can be changed with the stroke of a keyboard. Who is this supposed to fool? And who wants to bet that the new and improved “profit sharing” raise from 3% to 5% will be eaten up by…. $419,719.

Meanwhile, over 25 years what will NOT be collected from the developers is: $28,393,869.

All these supposed concessions will lower the investors’ income tax bill and may even generate a tax refund.

And wow, workforce parking will cost $720 a year instead of $1,200. Or as it stands now, $100 a year.

The question remains. Why are the citizens of Kingston paying $30 million to the developers so they can make 12-16% tax free instead of the 3-7% that U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Tim Scott expected Opportunity Zone projects to generate?