September 4, 2024
Albany County Industrial Development Agency Board Members
Kevin O'Connor, Chief Executive Officer
Albany County Industrial Development Agency
111 Washington Ave., Suite 100
Albany, NY 12210
[email protected]Dear Board Members of the Albany County Industrial Development Agency and Kevin:
We write to you as the Chief Executive Officers of the Cities of Albany and Cohoes, the Towns
of Bethlehem, Colonie, and Guilderland, the Village of Menands, and the Industrial Development
Agencies of Albany, Bethlehem, and Guilderland regarding the Albany County Industrial
Development Agency's (Albany County IDA) proposed revisions to its uniform tax exemption
policy, specifically the "elimination of the requirement to obtain approvals of affected tax
jurisdictions prior to entering into payment-in-lieu of tax agreements" (PILOTs) also known as
“local approval.”
First and foremost, eliminating the requirement to obtain local approvals for projects that request
a PILOT from Albany County will negatively impact our respective municipalities’ ability to
influence and support development within our borders that aligns with our strategic initiatives,
established development plans, and local priorities. This change would also eliminate our ability
(via our respective IDAs) to monitor and enforce project performance and intervene with
corrective action when necessary. Furthermore, it is the revenue generated from these local IDA
projects that helps fund economic development activities of our local development corporations.
As you know, it is a matter of course that our respective Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs)
receive applications for, review, and administer all PILOT applications for properties located
within our municipal boundaries. If the Albany County IDA is no longer required to obtain
approvals of affected tax jurisdictions prior to entering into payment-in-lieu tax agreements, it is
conceivable that the Albany County IDA may execute PILOTs that would have a detrimental
impact to our property tax revenue collection abilities. As stated in the letter from the City of
Albany dated July 24, 2024, the City of Albany received more than $3.5 million in revenue in 2023
from PILOT agreements made between property owners and the City of Albany IDA, plus the
Albany City School District collected nearly $5 million and the Albany Public Library collected
nearly $400,000 from those very agreements during the same period.
We also note that the members of our respective IDAs are appointed by local elected officials -
individuals directly elected by the residents of our municipalities - and must reside within our
respective municipalities. These requirements ensure the best interests of the taxing jurisdictions
are consistently considered. If the Albany County IDA obtains the authority to enter into PILOTs
for projects in our municipalities without our approval, it will become very possible that
individuals who neither live nor work in our municipalities are making decisions that will
significantly impact the taxpayers of those very municipalities.
We urge the Albany County IDA to refrain from eliminating the “local approval” requirement and
instead continue to provide autonomy to all Albany County municipalities with their own industrial
development agencies.
Sincerely,
Kathy M. Sheehan William Keeler Brian Marsh
Mayor, City of Albany Mayor, City of Cohoes Mayor, Village of Menands
/s/ Peter Crummey
Peter Barber Peter Crummey David VanLuven
Supervisor Supervisor Supervisor
Town of Guilderland Town of Colonie Town of Bethlehem
Shelly Johnston Donald Csaposs Elizabeth Staubach
Board Chair Chief Executive Officer Board Chair
Town of Guilderland IDA Town of Guilderland IDA City of Albany IDA
Ashley Mohl Catherine Hedgeman
Chief Executive Officer Executive Director
City of Albany IDA Town of Bethlehem IDA
Enc. Copy of letter from Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Albany City Treasurer Darius
Shahinfar to the Albany County Industrial Development Agency
dated July 24, 2024
Copy of letter from Menands Mayor Brian Marsh to the Albany County Industrial
Development Agency dated July 23, 2024
CC. Hon. Daniel P. McCoy, Albany County Executive
Hon. Joanne Cunningham, Chairperson, Albany County Legislature
