State's tax cap plan irks legislators

CANTON — St. Lawrence County lawmakers are joining the chorus of opposition to Gov. David A. Paterson's plan to cap property tax payments Albany makes to local governments on state lands in the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

"The state has gone on a buying spree, and this will cause folks within the park to bear those costs," said Legislator Laura J. Perry, D-Hopkinton.

The Legislature will be asked to vote on a resolution opposing the move at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the county courthouse.

Clifton, Colton, Fine and Piercefield would be the towns most affected in St. Lawrence County, since they have the most state-owned properties, according to Real Property Tax Office Director Jane B. Powers.

Mrs. Powers said the state was billed for $2.7 million in town and county taxes this year, and $2.6 million in 2008.

If the state Legislature approves the governor's plan to cap taxes at the 2009 level, the county and towns would never receive any more than $2.7 million in compensation for state lands in the Adirondacks, Mrs. Powers said, forcing private landowners to bear a greater burden as tax rates rise each succeeding year.

"It would be devastating," town of Clifton Supervisor Robert L. Snider said. "The burden would be shifted to local people and local businesses, resulting in hardship for everybody. I'm not sure some can afford it. I think maybe some will have to move."

The Adirondack Council, a nonprofit environmental group, opposes the plan, as do state Sens. Elizabeth O'C. Little, R-Queensbury, and Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome.

"The state made a commitment in 1886 to pay full taxes on all Adirondack Forest Preserve lands, forever," Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal said recently. "The governor's plan would bring 122 years of cooperative management to a screeching halt."

Town of Fine Supervisor Mark C. Hall said that point bothers him most.

"We get these tax payments by law. I think we all have to make changes and find new ways to accomplish what we have to accomplish," he said. "I just think capping the taxes is the wrong way to do it."

The state Department of Environmental Conservation's 2009 draft Open Space Plan identifies priority lands that the state should purchase to block development. Among the north country priorities in this year's proposal are a 75-acre tract next to the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site in Jefferson County and lands around Lake Portaferry in the towns of Pitcairn and Fine.

"The state continues to buy up property, then they come up with a proposition like freezing taxes at the 2009 tax (level)," Colton Supervisor William R. Swafford said. "It affects everybody. It's not just the town; it would have to be borne by the entire county."