Silo Ridge's effect on school district still unclear

AMENIA — While recent Planning Board meetings concerning Silo Ridge tend to revolve around the environmental implications of future construction, the effects the remodeled resort will have on the economy here remain important, in light of the recession.

Many residents have praised the project, believing the proposed five-star hotel, Ernie Els-designed golf course and hundreds of townhouses will generate revenue for local businesses.

Silo Ridge’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) includes a fiscal impact analysis, which estimates a net surplus to the Webutuck Central School District of $2.6 million annually. If there were to be a 50-percent reduction in residential market value, the amount would still be almost $1.5 million.

Attorney to the Town of Amenia Michael Hayes explained the numbers.

“Part of what the SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act] process involves is asking what tax revenues will be generated by the development. What will be the demand on different levels of government services?�

Hayes said the big question is whether the projected tax revenues will exceed the projected additional costs of development.

The additional costs are the result of more homes, and more residents moving into the area. An increased police force would likely be needed. But, according to Hayes, in a project such as Silo Ridge, which has no commercial component, the biggest change would  be in the size and needs of the local schools.

“In a residential subdivision, a lot of kids are added,� he said. “Often the tax rates of the houses are not enough to cover the cost of providing education for more students.�

During the SEQRA process, applicants are required to run worst-case scenarios, even if it is highly unlikely that they will be a factor in reality.

For example, the houses that will be constructed at Silo Ridge are being anticipated as second homes for most owners, meaning that any children they would have would not be integrated into Webutuck’s school district. But for SEQRA’s purposes, the applicant has to run the analysis of a worst-case scenario, where all houses would be lived in full-time, and all eligible children would attend public schools (even though it could be assumed that the majority of Silo Ridge homes would be owned by wealthier families that could opt to give their children a private education).

However, the town is still likely to benefit from even the $1.5 million  net surplus revenue mentioned earlier, as opposed to the $2.6 million that Silo Ridge believes is a more accurate figure.

“At the end of the day, no matter what scenario you run, the math always turns out to be at least a six-figure surplus,� Hayes said, who added that since the school district has a large amount of excess capacity, even if the schools were suddenly flooded with students, the district has enough capacity to absorb them in the current campus.

But according to district Superintendent Richard Johns, it remains to be seen whether the Silo Ridge Resort Community will benefit Webutuck Central.

“Everything depends on whether these folks claim Amenia as their domicile of residence,� he said. “They’re right, the resort is obviously going to have a tremendous impact. But the tax base and tax rate are different things. The tax base simply tells us what we’re going to use for the denominator, and how we divide up that bill. The bigger the tax base, the less tax rate per person.

“The school’s funding formula takes into consideration wealth and income. So if very wealthy people move into the district, that has an impact on the funding formulas,� Johns added. “And the more wealthy the district, the less money you get from the state. So it might help us on one end and hurt us on the other.�

Johns acknowledged he had no idea what the balance on either side would be, but said he had posed similar questions to local legislators.

The bottom line is there is no way of knowing what the economic impact on the school district will be until the houses are bought and the tax base is adjusted.

“The expectation is that most of these homes are secondary,� Johns said. “But, for example, the town of Millbrook has several very wealthy residents, and that makes taxes go up for everyone. There’s no question that a project of this magnitude will have a significant impact on the tax base. Whether that turns into tax relief or not, well, that’s another question.�