County gives motel tax break; Woodbury gets ‘bupkis’

County gives motel tax break; Woodbury gets ‘bupkis’

By Tony Houston



Woodbury - “It’s an outrage and a disgrace that this project that was approved by the Town will be granted tax abatement by another government.”

Those are the words of Woodbury Town Councilman Michael Aronowitz pertaining to the proposed financial assistance to the Hampton Inn hotel project by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA).

The three-story, 136-room, 80,000-square-foot hotel and related improvements are planned for a 16-acre parcel of land at 25 North Drive behind Kohl’s in Woodbury Centre off Route 17.

The OCIDA’s proposed financial assistance includes a sales and use tax exemption, a mortgage recording tax exemption and a partial real property tax abatement. The real property tax abatement would result in property taxes from zero percent (in the first year) to 90 percent (in the tenth year) of the otherwise full amount; there is an increase of ten percentage points each year.

This arrangement would result in the property owner paying only 45 percent of the full amount over the first ten years. Beginning with the eleventh year, the full amount would be paid annually.

“Orange County is sticking it to the Town of Woodbury again,” Aronowitz said. “It’s bad enough that we get so little from Woodbury Commons; now they are screwing us twice.”


Aronowitz is concerned that the County is not just exempting the project from county taxes, but from town and school taxes as well. Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke and Monroe-Woodbury School District Superintendent Joe DiLorenzo have expressed the same concern.

The OCIDA is one of seven IDA’s in the County. There is a local IDA in one of the county’s villages, in two of its towns and in all three of its cities. The purpose of financial assistance from an IDA is to attract development and jobs to a location that would not be developed otherwise or would not be chosen otherwise by a specifically targeted developer.

“These tax breaks are not needed to encourage the Hampton Inn development,” said John Staiger, the assistant superintendent for Business and Management Services for the Monroe-Woodbury School District. “They would build here with or without the financial assistance being offered. The OCIDA is not acting in the best interest of the school district.”

This matter is especially galling to the school and town officials. The school district and the town both decided long ago not to participate in a statewide tax-incentive program — a program far less generous to developers that the one being offered by the OCIDA.

“The county wants more shoppers in order to get more revenue,” said Aronowitz, “A hotel goes up here to house the shoppers and we won’t get the full property taxes.

“Woodbury puts up with all the headaches like traffic and policing — and we get bupkis,” Aronowitz added.

The OCIDA will hold a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 28, on the matter of financial assistance for the Hampton Inn development at 1 p.m. in the Woodbury Town Hall at 511 Route 32 in Highland Mills.

OCIDA Administrative Director William Trimble will preside and OCIDA Attorney Philip Crotty will be present.