Elizabeth Nyland
Greenport, New York

December 26, 2006

To: the Greenport Planning Board

I am here tonight as a Greenport taxpayer who is very concerned that this project will result in higher property taxes for Greenport taxpayers who already pay some of the highest taxes of any town in the county. 
In the 4 years that I have lived in Greenport, Town taxes are up 52%, while County and school taxes were up only 23% and 20% respectively.

In my old neighborhood in Claverack, for the same four years, Town taxes increased only 26%.
When I say taxes, I am talking about the size of the check that had to be written to the tax collector, excluding any available exemptions. I am not talking about the tax rates. 

For the sake of all Greenport taxpayers, please read about the studies in this package. 

They show over and over again that big box projects in general, and Wal-Mart in particular, cost the host community more than they bring in.  Instead, they lead to:

• Stripping revenue from the local economy – money that goes to headquarters rather than back into the local economy – thus damaging the local economy
• Lower overall employment – YES! – because it puts existing retailers out of business resulting in job losses, not only from the loss of the stores, but from their suppliers as well.
• Lower incomes because they pay less, and have worse benefits than the local employers they replace
• Little or no increase in sales because the sales at these store just replace sales at locally owned businesses
• A net loss of retail space as existing businesses close
• A net loss of sales tax income
• Increased poverty and use of food stamps
• A drain on municipal budgets as costs in public services increase more than income from the projects
• A decline in property values
• An increase in property tax rates
• An increase in property taxes

Not only is Greenport already heavily taxed, according to the 2000 US Census, the town has one of the lowest median incomes, and highest percent of population living below the poverty level of all towns in the county.  So, Greenport’s economic profile “fits” with problems associated with the presence of big box stores.  Is it possible that Wal-Mart’s presence has been a contributing factor?

So, I am asking you do three things before giving Widewaters the go-ahead:

1. Read these study results.  Get educated. Know what you are getting us into before you do it.
2. Take control of the project. Demand that Widewaters tell you who the tenants are likely to be so you can begin to do the analyses that have to be done to determine if this will be good or bad for us. Parking lots and buildings do not a shopping center make.  What is sold in them, by whom and to whom, will determine whether this center helps or hurts us.  You have to know that before you can make a smart decision.
3. Give the project the Positive Declaration it merits, so you will have time to get the answers from Widewaters, hire your own experts, and do valid independent analyses of its potential impacts.  Only then will you know what you are approving and the likely results. Too many questions remain unanswered for that to happen now. (See attached list)

The SEQRA law makes this possible, and to not do so, is to not fulfill your obligations to Greenport’s taxpayers.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Nyland

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What Do We Not Yet Know About the Economic Ramifications of the Widewaters Project?

We don’t yet know:

What stores they plan to bring to the center or what kind of merchandise they will carry – EVERYTHING else depends on this. The right mix of stores and merchandise can increase sales and produce positive revenue via sales tax. The wrong mix of stores will do nothing to bring in more sales tax. Traffic estimates also depend on what stores will be here and where they will come from – new or relocated.

• How many of the stores at the center they plan to fill with existing retail operations from Greenport or elsewhere in the county
• If they just relocate stores it will not add to Town or County sales tax reveune. It will only put money in the pockets of Widewaters.  It will hurt other strip mall managements and hurt the shoppers because we will have to spend more time and money (on gas) to shop in stores we already shop in.
• It won’t bring shoppers to the area because if they stay away now, why come if the only difference is where the stores are located.
• If they expect to have mostly new businesses, then is there enough money in the area to support this center and the current retail businesses?-If not, is Greenport prepared to deal with numbers of empty retail spaces along Route 9 and the fall-out of losing those businesses?

So, even with a number of new stores, Greenport could suffer and lose existing businesses — if the new ones just take business from existing stores.  Unless the new stores keep purchases in the area now going out of the area, we won’t benefit.

Who they think will come to shop there – shopper demography – age, gender, where they live, etc.

• Whether the customers will primarily be current shoppers or new to shopping in Greenport — and the distribution/numbers of each.
• Whether current shoppers can be expected to do more shopping here in the future than they do now.  That is, whether the stores will carry merchandise that will keep them from leaving the area as they do now for some items.
• Whether “new” customers will come from out of the county or elsewhere in the county?  Regardless of where they come from, will their purchases be incremental to current county sales or just a relocation of those sales from other county retail sites?

How many new shoppers can be expected. What estimates have they made as to the numbers of shoppers that will be new to Route 9 as well as their site?

• How will traffic be affected by new shoppers?  Will they come from the South, the East, North or West more than now come here?  If we have the same stores here as are in Catskill why would anyone come here?
• Will the extra traffic play havoc with the entire route 9 “corridor”?
• How many of all the shoppers will take Joslen Blvd to get to the center without taking Rt 9? Will heavy traffic actually discourage shopping in the area and encourage leaving to go elsewhere?
• If the stores are to be mostly relocated and/or stores selling merchandise now available here or elsewhere in the county, how realistic is it to expect shoppers to come here who normally go out of the county to Albany area, Kingston area, and/or MA — places these shoppers already know, that are equally as close, and perhaps easier to get to than Greenport?
• Is it possible that Widewaters doesn’t actually expect increased shopper traffic at all?  Maybe they expect to practically fill the center with relocated businesses from along Fairview? Or, they expect the same stores that are in Catskill thereby negating any need/desire for Greene County residents to come here to shop – or for our residents to go over there.
• Is that why the DOT decided they didn’t need to expand the traffic study to include Rip Van Winkle Bridge traffic?  Did Widewaters perhaps tell DOT that the stores in Greenport would be same as in Catskill so there would not be a need for shoppers of either county to cross the river to shop?
• Is that why they have not included information for the southern part of Fairview/Rt 9 and the many feeder roads?  Do they expect that the only place along the road to have more traffic is their center? Are they expecting it to draw from the strip malls on the southern end because they expect to relocate many of those malls businesses? 

What expected costs will be to the Town and its taxpayers for any town services that must be provided. These costs are likely to the same whether the stores are new or relocated, whether it is successful or not.

• What is the estimate for the cost to provide security in the way of police, fire and emergency services? Who is going to pay for that — the taxpayers or the applicant?
• If there is incremental traffic, then who pays for the road repairs that could be expected to be needed more frequently?
• How much can residential properties across the road be expected to decline in value, and what does that do to the tax base, tax rate, etc.?

Whether there will there be enough new revenue to cover the costs of this center to the Town and taxpayers? Costs will be pretty steady regardless of how much it may bring in new sales tax revenue so it is imperative that there be an analysis of realistic income expectations.

• How much tax revenue can the Town count on? Again, do they expect incremental sales or just relocated sales?
• If they expect incremental sales, then how much incremental sales tax is the Town expecting to receive? And, is this a realistic expectation?
• By my calculations the town would receive $9,200 for every increment of $10 million in sales. If there was an incremental $100 million, which would represent an increase of 20% over current sales in the county, that would produce $92,400 in incremental sales tax for Greenport. Is that a realistic expectation?
• How much property tax will it bring add?
• Will Widewaters and its tenants be given property tax abatements or deals of other types to reduce their property taxes?
• But, how much in potential loss of revenue tied to the loss of other retail operations will there be, and will it offset any gains in sales or property tax?

 Net, is the estimated income from taxes going to cover the estimated costs to the Town, or will the taxpayers be put in the position of subsidizing Widewaters through their taxes, and at what level?

It would seem that we know NOTHING about the economic ramifications of this project.  How can it possibly be permitted by the Planning Board with such a glaring lack of information?