"I lose sleep at night worrying about it. "I love my back yard, I love my pool, but when I heard about this project I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach," D'Antuono said. Jeanne D'Antuono, who said she's lived on Lockport Road for 39 years, said worries about the project are keeping her awake at night. "We're waiting for more information," Wallace said. “DEC has been actively developing solutions to mitigate these conditions and is pursuing regulatory changes to modernize the Program, which will reduce administrative burdens and improve forestry outcomes,” the department said.Ī version of this story was first published by told him that the DOT had asked for additional time to complete its study and that planning board and town board meetings scheduled to consider the project's approval had been moved back to the end of May. The comptroller’s office recommended a centralized database. The comptroller’s office found each of DEC’s 23 sub regional offices track the information in different ways. The DEC also does not keep track of the program in a centralized location. The DEC pointed to staffing shortages as a reason “the department is generally not monitoring these aspects of the management plan.” The DEC has 29 foresters to oversee 1.5 million enrolled acres, according to the department’s response. The DEC told the comptroller’s office it plans to contact the New York State Assessors Association to improve communication.
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The tax benefits received are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and demand greater scrutiny.” “This audit raises questions about whether these incentives are achieving their goal to improve private forest management.
“New York state offers a property tax break for landowners who commit to protect their private forest land, but some property owners are not living up to their end of the agreement,” DiNapoli said. The location of the 135 properties examined is unclear. An interactive map the comptroller’s office created shows the majority of program participants are in the Adirondacks and North Country. The 480a is the latest iteration of Law 480.Īll participating landowners received a local tax reduction of $62 million between 20, according to the comptroller’s report. Under that law, private landowners with DEC-approved forest management plans for producing timber crops receive an annual property exemption of up to 80 percent. The investigation included only a portion of the 6,858 properties enrolled in what is called the Real Property Tax Law 480a and 480. A comptroller's investigation of 135 properties showed from January 2017 to December 2019, 45 owners received more than $525,000 in tax breaks for which they did not qualify.
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