The Bethlehem Central School District has received notification from the Albany County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) regarding a proposed Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) for the Champlain Hudson Power Express Project. The proposed project is an underground transmission line that would deliver renewable energy from Canada to New York City. The proposed PILOT related to the project would provide the district with approximately $9.5 million over 30 years.
The local portion of this project covers 24.24 miles and spans four towns, two villages and four school districts, including Bethlehem. The proposed PILOT apportions payments to each taxing jurisdiction based on the number of miles of pipeline installed within each area. Approximately 2.14 miles of the pipeline are expected to be located within the Bethlehem Central School District.
The county IDA is required to notify and solicit comment from the school district anytime the structuring of a PILOT agreement deviates from the Uniform Tax Exemption Policy (UTEP). Since the proposed terms of payment under the PILOT is a 30-year agreement rather than a typical 10- or 11-year term, the school district was able to review the terms and provide comment, if necessary. The district reviewed the information publicly during the Board of Education meeting on November 17. In its review, the district found the terms of the PILOT agreement to be reasonable and recommended that no comment was required.
The project description, proposed abatements and estimated PILOT amounts were shared with the Board of Education during the Superintendent’s Report at the Nov. 17 board meeting. A copy of that information can be found here.