BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG — Ogdensburg City Council is hoping to secure payments in lieu of taxes from the state to offset costs of providing services and to compensate the city for vacant state-owned facilities.

The resolution was put forward by Councilor John Rishe who told council that the state is the “single largest tax-exempt” land holder in the city. And that the state’s holdings are valued at more than $200 million.

He also noted that the state owns over 50 percent of the city’s waterfront property, which is a figure he said surprised him. He said the city is suffering because it is unable to make use of some of its most valuable property.

“These tax exemptions severely hamper the city’s ability to provide governmental services, including public safety, without exceeding its constitutional taxing limit or raising local real property taxes in a city that already has the highest combined tax rate in the North Country and one of the highest combined tax rates in the entire state of New York,” said a resolution put forward by Rishe.

Rishe said the exemptions exceed $8.2 million in lost revenue to the city, county and school district. He told council that the school district has also expressed interest in supporting the plan.

Rishe’s resolution says “their underutilized, blighted, and deteriorating conditions and the fact that they comprise over 50 percent of the city’s valuable St. Lawrence River waterfront, hampering future private sector growth and development.”

Rishe again pointed out that PILOT payments to other cities in the state in recognition of their tax-exempt status, including Albany and New York which receives over $22 million annually in PILOT payments.

While the state holds many properties throughout St. Lawrence County that it does not pay taxes on, Ogdensburg likely bears the biggest burden.

The state has also been negligent in finding reuses for state-owned properties for defunct facilities like waterfront portions of the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center that have fallen into disrepair and more recently the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility which the state closed in March.

For years the city has worked with Sen. Patty Ritchie and others to get the unused land at the psychiatric center back in city possession so it can be prepped for development and sale, but the state has failed to move forward on discussions.

The resolution was unanimously supported by council.

Rishe said he also floated the idea to Sen. Patty Ritchie, who he says was receptive to the idea. Ritchie, however, is not seeking reelection and will likely be replaced by Assemblyman Mark Walczyk who is running for the Senate seat.

The argument for the state to offer some assistance in lieu of taxes is that they benefit from various services provided by the city such as police and fire and own some of the most valuable land in the city.