TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. — The town has reduced the property assessments of the Courtyard By Marriott hotel on Frank Sottile Boulevard and the Aldi supermarket on East Chester Street Bypass, which will result in lower tax bills for the businesses.
Town Supervisor James Quigley said the Town Board’s approval of the lower assessments is indicative of Ulster’s shrinking commercial base.
“Aldi had put an addition on,” he said. “We ended up giving them back the value of the addition and $100,000. … Their assessment [has gone] up to represent the level of improvements that were at the location.”
Quigley said the hotel asked for an assessment cut because the COVID-19 pandemic has kept people from traveling and booking hotel rooms.
“We’ve got an issue right now because of COVID,” the supervisor said. “They are basically all suffering.”
The Marriott assessment was reduced from $7 million to $6.2 million, and the Aldi assessment from $2.55 million to $2.12 million.
The Marriott case was brought to the town by property owner Hudson Valley 2011, which last September won an assessment reduction of the Walmart store on Frank Sottile Boulevard from $21.5 million to $19 mullion; and of the Lowe’s store, also on Frank Sottile Boulevard. from $7.37 million to $6.96 million.
Quigley said the town is finding it necessary to adjust its budget expectations to accommodate the loss of some retail outlets and reduced assessment for other businesses.
“The town, at one time, had a very strong commercial tax base,” he said. “That tax base allowed the town to enjoy a certain level of revenue that provided services. Commercial is going away.”
Published by Daily Freeman
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