HB 1689-FN, relative to taxation of Pease development authority property. MAJORITY: INEXPEDIENT TO LEGISLATE. MINORITY: OUGHT TO PASS.
Rep. John A Burt for the Majority of Municipal and County Government: The intent of this bill was to cancel a section of HB 2 which reiterated that the hangars at the Skyhaven Airport in Rochester NH were exempt from property taxes by the City of Rochester. The aforementioned section was not the only law that protected these properties from taxation but was a belt-and-suspenders assurance because of attempts by the city to assess taxes. The City of Rochester has been offered the airport for over twenty years by the state. The city kept holding out for the state to make greater investments so that the revenue from hangar rents and fuel sales would pay for the operation of the airport. It has always been a close thing whether the revenue would support the operation. The city knew this and that was why it kept stalling on the take-over. The state finally gave up on the city ever taking the airport over, and it was assigned to the Pease Development Authority with the hope that if the revenues did not support the costs, the PDA could afford the costs. It appears that the city now feels that if there is a new group that can cover the costs, that they can now take advantage of that, and tax the airport without fear of losing this valuable community asset. This is short sighted and hostile to the state maintaining its network of airports. The city could have owned the airport for nothing but did not want the risk. The city's reluctance to take on the responsibility should not now be rewarded by removing the tax exemption that has been in effect since the hangars were built. Vote 7-6.
Rep. Kris E Roberts for the Minority of Municipal and County Government: This bill is an attempt to repeal an earmark that was inserted in HB 2, Chapter 224, Laws of 2011 which resulted in very few people having the opportunity to vote up or down based on its merits. As a result of the passage of HB 2 the Pease Development Authority was granted a special tax exemption which gave it an unfair advantage over other publicly own airports in the state. The Keene airport, which is located in Swanzey, owns aircraft hangers which were built with public funds and leased out to private aircraft owners which pay their lease payment to the City ofKeene and property tax to the town of Swanzey. Since the cost of hanger rent is a major factor where pilots base their aircraft, HB 1689-FN would provide the Pease Development Authority a two-fold unfair economic advantage over other airports required by law to charge property tax while ensuring that Pease Development Authority would have greater access to the local share of the aircraft registration fees. Furthermore the earmark granting Pease Development Authority the authority to not charge property tax on public property or land leased to non-government agencies or private individuals creates a separate class of citizens in New Hampshire which could result in numerous court challenges. The committee was told that the financial viability of the airport is totally dependent on its ability to lease out the hangers with the agreement that the renters would be exempt from local property taxes. If the financial future of the airport is based on a small number of privately owned aircraft, is that really a risk that the state of New Hampshire willing to take?
No comments:
Post a Comment