December 3, 2015

Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency

333 West Washington Street, Suite 130
Syracuse, NY 13202
Dear OCIDA Board members,
Recently the COR Development Company, the developer of the Syracuse Inner Harbor project, has
chosen to circumvent the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency and has instead sought a payment in
lieu of taxes agreement from the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA). It has been
a past practice of OCIDA to request a letter of support from the school district in which the pending
project is located. The practice is important because the largest share of property tax revenue that will
be lost in a PILOT agreement belongs to the school district in which the project is located.
The Inner Harbor project is located in the Syracuse City School District and if a PILOT agreement is
approved by OCIDA it would mean a loss of funding for a school district in the twenty-third poorest city
with some of the poorest census tracks in the United States. This puts the students of Syracuse in an
even more vulnerable position and, by choosing this current path, purposefully silences their voices. To
safeguard their future, it is of the utmost importance that the Syracuse School Board has a say in the
process. Additionally, for a project that has been the beneficiary of generous and publicly funded
incentives, the Syracuse City School District - with its many students enrolled in career and technical
education programs - could have served as a clearinghouse for potential workers.
As stated, in past projects OCIDA has requested a letter of support for potential projects from the
impacted school districts. One such example includes the Hinsdale Road project located in the Town of
Camillus where the West Genesee Board of Education had an opportunity to pass multiple resolutions
on the project. As a result of the impact a PILOT agreement has on the local school district, it makes
sense for the local school board to have an opportunity to review the impacts of the project and PILOT
on its students. We recognize the need for and strongly support economic growth and development and
also an environment that fosters a sustainable community for all. However, in order to work together to
build a stronger City and County, we strongly encourage OCIDA to provide a seat at the table for school
districts that are significantly impacted by these PILOT agreements.
We request that the Syracuse Board of Education and the students who would be affected by this PILOT
are given the same consideration that the West Genesee Board of Education was given and that OCIDA
not move forward until a Syracuse School Board resolution regarding the Syracuse Inner Harbor project
is passed.
Sincerely,
Patricia Body, David Cecile, Derrick Dorsey
Mark Muhammad, Maxwell Ruckdeschel,
Stephen Swift
Commissioners of Education
Syracuse City School District