By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
At its Feb. 12 meeting, the Manlius Town Board passed a resolution opting the town back into a real property tax exemption for solar, wind and farms waste energy.
In 2016, the town had opted out of a local law that had removed the tax exemption.
Real Property Tax Law Sec. 487 provides for a 15-year exemption on any increase in the value of a property associated with a solar energy system.
Town assessor Patrick Duffy said this section of the law serves as an “all-or-nothing proposition” that can only be applied to either every building within Manlius’ jurisdiction, whether residential or commercial, or none of them.
“No exceptions are allowed for the exemption if you opt out,” Duffy said. “You have to take a proactive position.”
The town now has an option to enact a pilot agreement, which allows community members to make payments to the municipality for such structures as solar farms in lieu of taxes.
Energy systems installed after 1991 and approved by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) are eligible for the exemption.
These systems include solar panels, windmills, man-made dams and farm waste energy systems, the last of which collects methane gas from animal waste, harvests the gas and runs it through generators to produce electricity.
As of this year, the town had 16 parcels of land on file able to receive the exemption.
The exemption does not prevent the town from collecting necessary funds, according to Duffy.
“We don’t pocket anything here in the town,” Duffy said. “What you don’t pay in property taxes because of that exemption is passed off to everyone else.”
Prior to making the decision to opt back in, the town board opened a public hearing on the matter.
Kevin Nickels, the vice president of sales and marketing for residential solar developer Nickels Energy Solutions, said the property tax exemption would expand the use of clean energy in the town, having an “immediate impact” from both an environmental and financial standpoint.
Town board member Katelyn Kriesel also said that individuals in the area should, on top of recognizing the effects of climate change, be “mindful” of the financial return of renewable energy for Manlius.
“It’s an economic benefit, not an economic detractor,” Kriesel said. “To continue to focus on policies that can encourage renewable energy right here in our community will only help to make us stronger and help us to be part of the solution to the climate crisis that we’re currently facing on our planet.”
