County Seeks Opportunity Zone Advantages

SCHOHARIE COUNTY — Officials in Schoharie County are looking to spur more economic development by holding on to two of the county's tax-advantaged federal Opportunity Zones and adding another.

The county Board of Supervisors at its Friday, April 17 meeting approved a resolution asking that Opportunity Zones in the Village and Town of Cobleskill, and another in the Towns of Carlisle, Seward, Sharon and the Village of Sharon Springs, be reaffirmed; and that a third OZ be added in the Towns of Richmondville and Summit. The action was done in the hope of "enabling long-term investment in underserved communities," according to the resolution.

Before the vote, Julie Pacatte, Executive Director of the Schoharie Economic Enterprise Corporation (SEEC) and First Vice President of the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District (MVEDD) made some brief remarks at the meeting recommending approval of the resolution.

"In 2017, the federal government introduced a new tax-advantaged program called the Opportunity Zone," Pacatte wrote in a memo _ a copy of which she provided _ to Town of Cobleskill Supervisor and county Economic Development Committee Chairman Werner Hampel. "In 2025, the program was adopted permanently into federal law."

"The updated and permanent OZ 2.0 incentive has changes from the original version, including narrowed eligibility criteria for census tracts to be designated as OZs, with the requisite median family income dropping from 80 percent to 70 percent of the areawide family income, and with the ability to designate contiguous census tracts repealed," Pacatte continued. "However, rural investments have been emphasized.

"SEEC is advocating for Schoharie County to alert state and local officials to keep its existing OZ 1.0 census tracts designated due to the current OZ fund activity, in addition to having a pipeline of more than $200 million of proposed investments underway."

The memo also recommends seeking the addition of another Opportunity Zone in the Town of Richmondville and Summit. The two existing Opportunity Zones in the county "are at risk of losing designation," the approved resolution states.

It continues that part of the aim of OZs is to "address the unique challenges of rural development and encourage long-term investment in underserved communities" and that the "OZ program now provides enhanced tax incentives for rural areas under the federal One Big Beautiful Bill, which permanently extended and reformed the program."

On the two existing OZs in the county, the resolution goes on to state that "Two Mohawk Valley ACHIEVE proposed anchor projects and 10 supporting projects in development and estimated at more than $463 million private investment are located within the currently designated Schoharie County OZ 1.0 census tracts that are at risk of losing designation.

"One supporting ACHIEVE project and multi-million dollar public investments have been advancing in a key strategic corridor in the Town of Richmondville Census Tract 36095740500 that is likely eligible for OZ 2.0 designation."

In other actions from the April 17 county BOS meeting, county Administrator Bryan Best said during his report that interviews for the vacant Department of Public Works Commissioner Job have been scheduled. In addition, Best announced a May 7 Economic Development related event at Cobleskill-Richmondville High School and an April 28 press conference on some initiatives for veterans.

He continued in an email after the meeting that the April 28 press conference at 2 p.m. in the county Annex Building in Schoharie will be announcing a new initiative funded by the New York State Department of Veterans' Services. It would establish a designated space at the county for veterans to access a high-quality computer and Internet for telehealth appointments, peer-to-peer meetings and online sessions with a VSO.

"We have created the space and the state has supplied the equipment," Best wrote in the email.

At the request of County Supervisor Alicia Terry of Gilboa, the BOS scheduled a public hearing for its next meeting May 15 at 9 a.m. to consider extending the county moratorium on biosolids for another six months.

Terry thanked Best's office and the office of County Treasurer Michelle Price for the "new level of financial reporting being shared with the Board of Supervisors."

County BOS Chairman Bill Federice added his thanks on the same subject, saying "This is the quantum leap we all wanted."