{"id":107026,"date":"2025-07-18T06:21:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=107026"},"modified":"2025-07-20T07:38:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T11:38:21","slug":"tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/","title":{"rendered":"Tioga County IDA decision puts school district in a bind"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Matt Freeze —<\/span><\/p>\n

Following a recent decision by the Tioga County Industrial Development Agency, the Owego-Apalachin Central School District will likely face challenges in passing its 2026\u201327 budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision not to extend a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement for Central New York Oil and Gas (CNYOG) means the proposed school tax increase could appear to be around 20%. In reality, district officials say the increase will likely reflect a more conventional rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The PILOT was originally scheduled to expire in 2019, at which point the CNYOG property would be added to the tax rolls with an approximate valuation of $80 million. The district had asked the IDA to extend the agreement to avoid voter confusion during the budgeting process.<\/span><\/p>\n

That confusion is now anticipated as part of the upcoming budget cycle.<\/span><\/p>\n

PILOT agreements are designed to stabilize tax payments for companies during large construction projects. These agreements establish an initial payment distributed among the county, municipality, and school district, then increase annually\u2014typically by 2%\u2014through the end of the term. Once completed, the payments are intended to match 100% of what would be owed if the property were fully taxable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Superintendent Corey Green and Assistant Superintendent Bob Farrell attended the IDA\u2019s meeting on Wednesday to discuss the outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe basically did not take up a resolution that was drafted to extend the PILOT further, which is based on discussions we\u2019ve had over time,\u201d said IDA Chair Jon Ward. \u201cIt\u2019s an awkward position for the IDA, in that this PILOT agreement was initially intended to expire in 2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ward said the board had been willing to continue the agreement temporarily, but that time has passed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, the whole idea behind the incentive package isn\u2019t really there,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were hopeful that Albany would fix the situation\u2014it got all the way to the governor\u2019s desk, but for whatever reason, that hasn\u2019t happened. Our position now is that we\u2019re in a difficult spot to extend a PILOT when there\u2019s no further incentive for the recipient.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Board member and Waverly Central School District Superintendent Eric Knolles said school districts across the state are increasingly facing similar issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have us between a rock and a hard place,\u201d Knolles said. \u201cTo put the property on the tax rolls is really what\u2019s supposed to happen once it\u2019s up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Green said he understands the IDA\u2019s perspective but is concerned about the possible consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the budget vote doesn\u2019t get 60% approval, the district would be forced to lay off 50 to 55 employees,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to have a direct impact on the community because we\u2019re going to have to make up $3.1 million. I get the position you guys are in and totally understand that this has been going on for a long time, but at some point, the rubber is going to meet the road.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Board member and Tioga County Legislator Tracy Monell said CNYOG has changed ownership since the original agreement was signed, and communication with the company has been difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t even know what\u2019s going on with this whole thing, and having a conversation with them is almost impossible,\u201d Monell said. \u201cThey don\u2019t seem to have a clue about what we\u2019re even talking about. So that didn\u2019t help the matter at all \u2014 but it did help us make our decision that we\u2019ve chased this long enough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to wash our hands of it\u2014sorry about that\u2014I\u2019m in the school district. I understand your situation, but it\u2019s one year. Suck it up,\u201d Monell added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knolles said he faced a similar situation earlier this year when the Chemung County IDA closed a PILOT with CVS. The change made it appear as though the district\u2019s tax increase was over 10%, when the actual increase was 3.9%.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like smoke and mirrors, right?\u201d said board member Kevin Gillette. \u201cYou have to present it one way, but in the end, it doesn\u2019t really matter a whole lot because the money is still coming into the district. New York State has failed to act \u2014 due to no fault of its own \u2014 you have to do a little smoke and mirrors, but it doesn\u2019t change your outcome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Green said the district is caught between what\u2019s true and what\u2019s perceived.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll be effective or not,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillette noted that if the IDA had continued the PILOT, the issue would persist until state lawmakers intervened.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep taking the pressure off one of the few tools that really make things happen in this world \u2014 folks complaining to the folks in Albany that something needs to change,\u201d Gillette said. \u201cWe\u2019re taking our biggest lobbying arm, which is all these school districts. It just seems to me like we\u2019re not just kicking a can down the road on one issue \u2014 we\u2019re kicking it down the road for all the school districts in the state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Green expressed frustration that a legislative solution had twice reached Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s desk, only to be vetoed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t understand what the huge political gain is here by vetoing something off these lines that they created 25 years ago,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knolles added that county IDAs are becoming more cautious about issuing new PILOT agreements.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been much more prescriptive with allowing PILOTs, just because of that reason,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you throw on some of these huge numbers, and it comes off in one year, it causes a tremendous edge because you\u2019ve got to get that 60%.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Knolles said there will be benefits moving forward as the expanded tax base helps distribute the levy more broadly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt does share that levy with more people when it goes on the tax rolls,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes some of the burden off the local taxpayers who\u2019ve been shouldering the load for 15 years while the PILOT was in place. There\u2019s supposed to be a benefit profile for the taxpayers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt Freeze — Following a recent decision by the Tioga County Industrial Development Agency, the Owego-Apalachin Central School District will likely face challenges in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":107027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTioga County IDA decision puts school district in a bind - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tioga County IDA decision puts school district in a bind - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Matt Freeze — Following a recent decision by the Tioga County Industrial Development Agency, the Owego-Apalachin Central School District will likely face challenges in...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-18T10:21:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-20T11:38:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/07\/IDA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"548\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/\",\"name\":\"Tioga County IDA decision puts school district in a bind - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/07\/IDA.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-18T10:21:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-20T11:38:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/18\/tioga-county-ida-decision-puts-school-district-in-a-bind\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/07\/IDA.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/07\/IDA.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":548,\"caption\":\"The decision not to extend a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement for Central New York Oil and Gas (CNYOG), above, has created problems for the Owego-Apalachin Central School District\u2014 but maybe only on paper. 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