Residents voice dissent, citing environmental concerns

By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

In many municipalities across New York state, homeowners and businesses that install solar arrays or other green energy systems on their property can receive a tax exemption. The town of Lysander is no longer one of those municipalities.

The town board voted unanimously Feb. 16 to opt out of the exemption. In a public hearing preceding the vote, several residents voiced their support for the tax exemption, citing concern for the environment and a desire to ease the burden of property taxes.

Section 487 of the state’s real property tax law states, “Real property that contains a solar, wind, or farm waste energy system approved by the State Energy Research and Development Authority is exempt from taxation for a period of 15 years to the extent of any increase in assessed value due to the system.” The exemption does not apply to special ad valorem levies or special assessments.

Resident Victoria Shires said the town board would effectively be raising property taxes on residents who install alternative energy solutions.

“You can’t opt out of just part of it. You have to opt out of all of it, so we can’t say it’s just for big solar farms,” Shires said. “You would be telling individual residents that you and the board are in favor of raising their property taxes after they are spending potentially tens of thousands of dollars on improvements not only to their home in order to gain back energy savings, in order to help the environment, as well as businesses.”

Shires suggested the town pursue payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements with businesses that want to install solar arrays or wind farms to protect that tax revenue.

Resident Jamie Bodenlos criticized the board for holding their comments during the public hearing. Supervisor Joe Saraceni said the public hearing is residents’ time to speak, saying, “You don’t want to hear from us right now, we want to hear from you.”

“Some of you are coming up for reelection soon, so I want to know how you feel about this,” Bodenlos said. “This is an important issue. I have small children. I live in Baldwinsville and I’m worried about the climate.”

Bodenlos said the tax exemption serves as positive reinforcement for citizens to make environmentally friendly choices and asked what the town board members are doing to protect the environment.

“If we want our community to increase environmentally friendly practices, we need to keep this in place. What other incentive will people have beside their own desires?” she said. “I think that you guys should start to be role models for [how we treat] the environment.”

Bodenlos also cited the “NY-Sun Solar Guidebook for Local Governments in New York State” on municipalities that opt out of the tax exemption: “jurisdictions may find that they will not actually collect substantially more tax revenue from solar or other renewable energy systems because the systems may not be built if they are fully taxable.” The guidebook can be found at bit.ly/sunguidebook.

Resident Gail Tosh said the removal of the tax exemption may cause people to think twice about installing alternative energy systems.

“I’m thinking about how many people are now not going to get solar, and I’m thinking about those businesses, because I’m sure those businesses employ people from the town of Lysander,” Tosh said. “We’re going to be cutting into people helping the environment, we’re going to be cutting into people doing something for their house and cutting their energy bill and we’re going to be cutting into salaries because there’s not going to be jobs to put solar in. To make it more expensive is doing everybody a disservice.”

Members of the town board said it was not their intention to raise taxes on such properties but to treat property owners equally.

“If I make an improvement on my house, I can assume my taxes will probably go up, whether it’s a swimming pool or a solar [array],” Councilor Peter Moore said.

“I don’t think it’s government’s place to pick winners and losers. In terms of tax rates, we’re just allowing someone to not pay taxes for X number of years,” Deputy Supervisor Bob Geraci said. “My goal is to treat everybody fairly and equitably and equally. That’s why I’m going to vote in favor of opting out of this.”

Geraci said he is not opposed to alternative energy systems, but he wants to preserve the scenic character of the town.

“What I see today is what I like: green,” he said, adding that solar panels could be unsightly.

Councilor Roman Diamond said the board’s decision to opt out of the tax exemption focuses more on large commercial operations than residential solar installations.

“My focus as I look at this isn’t so much the residential impact, although this will have an impact on residents. My focus is the large commercial solar farms. Fifteen years is a long time,” Diamond said. “I don’t know if it’s fair to categorize us as not being sensitive to the environment.”

Saraceni said residents who install solar arrays should not expect a huge increase in their assessments.

“Just because it’s a $30,000 system doesn’t mean it’s going to add $30,000 to the value of your home,” he said.

Saraceni also said the benefits of solar energy are overstated, saying, “There’s not real energy savings with solar panels. People who put up solar panels tend to use more energy.”

Saraceni said he does not believe “any particular energy industry should be incentivized.”

“I’m in favor of green energy when it makes sense. I’m just not in favor of the incentives that go along with this [exemption],” he said.

Saraceni said the town board’s decision to opt out of the green energy tax exemption was made from a local perspective and not by looking at climate change on a global scale.

“When I look at this, I am not the president of the United States, I am not the commissioner of the UN, I need to look at this and how it impacts my community,” Saraceni said.

Tosh said protecting the environment and battling climate change must come from a “grassroots level.”

“It’s hard for me to separate town from country,” she said. “As a patriotic American, I want America to situate itself as the strongest nation. This may blow people’s minds but energy equals power. If we don’t have to buy our energy from other countries, we become more powerful, and I don’t know why we would demand our federal government make all the sacrifices for us.”