Kingston City school board member James Michael felt no need to polish his speech while updating the board on a request for tax relief from developers of the Kingstonian project in Uptown.

Michael, chairman of the school board’s finance and audit committee, described the developers as “arrogant and demanding,” and challenged County Executive Pat Ryan, who has been leading negotiations on the tax relief package.

The Ulster County Industrial Development Agency, who administers such tax agreements known as PILOTs (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes), required the developers to obtain approval from the Kingston Common Council, Ulster County Legislature and the Kingston City school board.

“The county executive has no respect for the Board of Education,” Michael said. “It seems we are like second class citizens [to him].

Michael and School Board president James Shaughnessy have both been critical of the massive proposed tax break that would keep millions from being added to the district’s levy.

They have criticized the developers, city officials, and County Executive Ryan, saying they are negotiating without regard for the taxing authority that would make the biggest sacrifice in any large-scale tax deal in the city: Kingston City Schools.

The development would include 143 apartments, a parking garage, a boutique hotel, retail space, a promenade and pedestrian bridge over Schwenk Drive.

The project would cost an estimated $52 million to build.

Developers, Joe Bonura Jr. and Brad Jordan, originally requested nearly $30 million in tax exemptions over 25 years.

School board members estimate that of the $30 million in tax relief, the district’s levy would have missed out on $18 million during the life of the agreement.

The developers, Ryan, Kingston Mayor Steve Noble, and Kingston Schools Superintendent Paul Padalino met in October to restructure the PILOT to offer just $25 million in tax exemptions over 25 years.

Ryan announced the new agreement in a celebratory press release with the headline: “New PILOT Framework For Kingstonian Would More Than Double [Tax] Payments.”

The language irked school board members.

In the original PILOT request, developers offered to pay $29,568 in property taxes in the first year, and increase payments slightly each year for 25 years. Without a PILOT, the developers would have to pay more than $900,000 in year one, increasing each year until year 25 when their tax bill would be $1.5 million, according to analysis provided by the county executive.

In the revised PILOT request, developers are offering to pay $40,000 in the first year, slightly increase payments for the second and third years, and then jump to a $144,000 payment in the fourth year.

After the fourth year, payments would increase slightly each year until year 25, when developers would pay $328,143. The developers would still receive an 87% property tax break under the revised PILOT.

Michael said the developers, the Kingston mayor and the county executive should try again, and harder.

“Everything [they offer] is going to be considered against that $18 million we’d lose, not receive,” Shaughnessy told Spectrum News in September, weeks before the revised PILOT agreement was announced.

Michael said during his update Wednesday that he likes the project; he does not like the tax agreement.

“I stressed that the project is beautiful. It’s going to be like the Taj Mahal of Kingston, but we need more revenue for the district,” Michael recalled of a September meeting with developers. “But they were very arrogant and demanding. They gave us an ultimatum, like, ‘Either we have this PILOT or we won’t have a parking garage.’”

Bonura Jr. told Spectrum News during a September interview that the parking garage is the main reason he and Jordan had to request the tax relief.

The developers agreed to finance the garage and maintain it for ten years before giving it back to the city, “at no cost to the taxpayer,” Bonura Jr. said, but at a significant cost to the developers.

“If the PILOT does not happen, the project does not happen,” he said.

When asked how much further he and Jordan could go in order to offer more benefits to students and families, Bonura Jr. said, “We’re there.”

Bonura Jr. was not immediately available Friday to respond to Michael’s criticisms and demands that the PILOT request be completely changed to put significantly more tax revenue into the district’s levy. Jordan did not respond to multiple calls and text messages.

Michael told other board members that Bonura Jr. and Jordan should change their offer to give themselves significantly less tax relief over a shorter period than 25 years.

He suggested a PILOT agreement of five to ten years, as opposed to an agreement that would span two generations.

"I would like to see us vote this down, to send a message to developers, Kingstonian developers and future developers, that the school district will not accept any more deviated [PILOT] programs,” Michael said. “I would suggest the Kingstonian developers come back to the district with a more traditional PILOT program."

A spokesperson for County Executive Ryan did not offer any comment, only referring Spectrum News to Ryan’s October 23 press release celebrating the new PILOT agreement.

“These concessions will result in a promising public-private partnership that will position the county’s economy for continued growth...,” Ryan wrote in the release.

“Politicians — they work for themselves. I want you to know that,” Michael said of Ryan. “We board members work for our students.”

School board members will discuss the PILOT request at their next meeting on November 18, and may hold an up-or-down vote on the tax deal in December.

Neither government officials nor the developers have indicated they will change the PILOT, as Michael requested.