Kingston city school board members drilled the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency’s CEO and the Ulster County deputy county executive at their Wednesday meeting over a $25 million tax exemption request for a local developer, and then held off voting on the request until at least December 2.

Developers of the Kingstonian project in Uptown Kingston are asking for a $25 million property tax exemption over 25 years. Without the tax deal, IDA officials said Wednesday, the developers would not be able to proceed with the $52 million project.

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

The IDA is requiring the developers — Joe Bonura Jr. and Brad Jordan — to get approval of the request from the county legislature, Kingston common council, and Kingston school board. Tuesday, the legislature voted 17-6 for the tax exemption.

Seven board members said the request for this tax break — which the IDA’s CEO agreed would keep $16 million out of the district’s levy — came before them at a terrible time. State funding is not guaranteed because of an economic crisis, and property taxes for the average homeowner in the district are increasing sharply.

Board member Robin Jacobowitz pointed out that, unlike school districts, municipal and county governments can draw on other resources to piece together their budgets.

“There’s sales tax and others municipalities can benefit from. We don’t have that. We have our levy. It’s what we get. It’s all we’ve got,” Jacobowitz said. “If a PILOT diminishes our ability to raise the levy over time, that’s a problem. It persists for decades. That’s something that we really need to think about.”

IDA officials were sympathetic, but said the developers cannot afford the project without the tax break, and cannot afford to pay more taxes during the life of the agreement.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for December 2 at 7 p.m.