The Poughkeepsie City Council has tabled a motion to certify the defeat of a proposed Business Improvement District (BID) and awaits recommendations from counsel on how to resolve differences between supporters and opponents of the plan.
The BID was proposed for the commercial heart of the city, encompassing key properties including the Civic Center and the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel as well as One Civic Center Plaza. Altogether some 200 properties would be involved, contained within a rough triangle, widest on its western border running south to Church street and north to Mansion Street and centered along the east-west axis of Main Street narrowing eastward until it ends at Clinton Street.
In a balloting procedure that was completed in March, 53 percent of the properties”™ owners, or 107 of the 200 eligible respondents, returned a form to City Hall saying they opposed the measure. A form not returned was deemed to be a vote in favor of the idea.
Supporter Michael de Cordova, an attorney and realtor with Kirchner Realty, threatened legal action against the city if the council certified the results of the election as accurate. Once the city certifies an election as deciding against a BID, supporters must wait at least one year before moving to hold another vote on the matter. Â
In a letter to the city dated March 16 written on de Cordova”™s behalf, attorney Richard I. Cantor cited what he termed an erroneous procedure in tallying the vote, saying the city improperly accepted the votes of individuals who were not the owners of record on relevant properties. That “constitutes a fatal defect,” Cantor wrote, and “nullifies” the outcome of the vote.
Mayor John C. Tkazyik, who emphasized that the initiative did not come from City Hall or the council, but was proposed by a group of businesses, said the he expects the city will be sued whatever the outcome of the current process. He said it is time to move on.
“Based on the closeness of the vote, this was certainly not a mandate for a Main Street business district,” said Tkazyik. “That is something for the group (of supporters) and the City Council to consider. They should be listening to the voice of the people.”
But at its April 6 meeting, the city council voted 5-3 to table the matter until at least April 20. “There is not a great deal of specificity as to how the balloting should be conducted,” said council Chairman Brian Doyle. “In the wake of the balloting that was done, there were uncertainties that emerged as to the validity of various ballots.”
He cited the example of a property that had more than one owner, but where only one of the partners sent in a ballot against the BID. He also questioned if the city “could know with certainty” that signatures on the ballots were valid.
Opponents of the measure said that the proposal would have raised their annual city property taxes 18 percent, a new cost they maintain would have been passed along to business tenants and consumers and force some businesses to relocate or go out of business. The group touted their Volunteers Improving Poughkeepsie (VIP) as a viable alternative to the BID.
But BID supporter Michael de Cordova, said that the volunteer approach has failed in the past because it needs a mandatory and dedicated funding mechanism. He said the BID would be minimally funded at $180,000 annually based on the revenue derived from the assessment on local property owner making payments. The cost for each business according to de Cordova is $1.70 per $1000 of assessed valuation. Property assessed at half a million dollars, he said, would pay an additional $850 annually. Â
Doyle said that he supported creating the BID, but said he did not speak for the entire council in that view. And he said the vote was not a council referendum on support for the BID, but a matter of fairness. “The ballot process left sufficient uncertainty so that those of us who voted to table the matter decided to seek a way that we could have greater certainty in the balloting.”
Tkazyik said the council is wasting resources by dragging the matter out, instead of abiding by the results of the ballot. “I believe due diligence has been served,” said Tkazyik. “The city has conducted the BID process appropriately. Now it”™s in the City Council”™s court. They are wasting staff time and wasting a lot of money.”