ADIRONDACK COUNCIL
CALLS ON GOVERNOR TO REJECT PROPOSED BAN ON PURCHASING NEW ADIRONDACK
FOREST PRESERVE
Environmental Group Urges Governor & Legislature to Restore
State Tax Payments to Local Governments if Courts Strike Them
Down; Considers Role in Lawsuit
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Released: Tuesday, January 8, 2008
ALBANY, N.Y. - The Adirondack
Council today urged Gov. Eliot Spitzer to reject a request from
two state legislators who want him to stop purchasing Forest
Preserve lands in the Adirondack Park because the state's tax
payments on those lands have been endangered by a pending court
decision.
In November 2007, a Supreme Court justice in Chautauqua County,
south of Buffalo, struck down all laws governing state tax payments
to local governments. The state pays local property taxes to
towns and counties around the state for some - not all - state
forest lands. In reviewing a complaint from a town supervisor,
the judge found that state tax payments on "reforestation
lands" outside the Adirondack and Catskill parks were unfairly
administered.
Rather than strike down just the section of law governing reforestation
lands, the judge voided all state tax payments to local governments.
However, he offered the state the right to appeal his decision
and stayed the execution of his order until the Appellate Division
confirms or rejects his November decision.
"It
could take a year or more for the Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court to make a decision in this case," said Adirondack
Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "Meanwhile,
the state will continue to make tax payments on all 2.7 million
acres of Adirondack Forest Preserve to the Park's 92 towns and
12 counties.
We fully understand how important these tax payments are to the
local governments and taxpayers of the Adirondack Park,"
Houseal said. |
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"We don't want them
interrupted for one day. But stopping the purchase of new Forest
Preserve will have no impact on the Appellate Division's decision.
It will only punish the public by squandering opportunities for
some of the most important Forest Preserve purchases in the state's
history.
"The Governor and Legislature should use the intervening
time to negotiate and draft a new law ensuring that the payments
are made on all Forest Preserve lands, in case they are thrown
out by the courts later this year or in 2009," he said.
"The Adirondack Council is ready to help in any way possible,"
Houseal said. "Our legal team is currently reviewing whether
we will seek party status in the lawsuit and actively assist
Attorney General Cuomo's team in defending the state."
Houseal's statement came in response to statements made by NYS
Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro, and Sen. Elizabeth
Little, R-Queensbury, who represent northern Adirondack districts.
Each has called on Governor Spitzer to stop buying Forest Preserve
lands until the court case is decided.
The Governor has made no formal response to the call.
Ironically, in his decision, the Supreme Court justice went out
of his way to explain that the tax payments being made on Forest
Preserve lands in the Adirondack and Catskill parks were rational
and fair.
He noted that they were the oldest such payments, established
at the time the preserve was created in 1886. He said the Adirondack
and Catskill payments were a model of consistency and reason,
but he explained that the Legislature didn't follow that model
when authorizing payments for other types of state forest lands.
Rather than pick and choose which payment programs to keep, the
judge struck down all of them and encouraged the Legislature
to start over.
New York State pays roughly $70 million per year in Forest Preserve
property taxes to Adirondack towns and counties. "Forever
Wild" state Forest Preserve covers more than 4,300 square
miles of the 9,300-square-mile Adirondack Park.
The state agreed to pay local taxes on Forest Preserve lands
(during the David B. Hill Administration) because the "Forever
Wild Clause" of the NYS Constitution prohibits any development,
logging or other commercial uses of the Adirondack and Catskill
Forest Preserves. No other state lands are constitutionally encumbered.
"There are too many outstanding opportunities right now
for the state to just walk away from open space protection,"
Houseal said. "The Adirondack Forest Preserve is still a
work in progress."
Houseal noted that the Adirondack Nature Conservancy had recently
purchased the entire 161,000-acre Adirondack holdings of the
Finch, Pruyn & Co. paper mill, including dozens of lakes,
the Hudson River Gorge, OK Slip Falls, high mountain peaks, and
a rare alkaline swamp. At the same time, nearly 100,000 acres
of additional timber company lands are for sale in the northwestern
Adirondacks. Much of it is rare and sensitive low-elevation boreal
forest containing a variety of rare and endangered plant and
animal species.
Founded in 1975, the Adirondack Council's mission is to ensure
the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack
Park. The Adirondack Park is the largest park in the contiguous
United States. Its wild, natural beauty is a sanctuary for wildlife
and people. The Adirondack Council is the leading voice for Adirondack
Park conservation, showing the world how people and nature can
thrive together.
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