 |
| May 05, 2024 |
Welcome! Click here to Login
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Click to visit the
Official Town Site
|
|
|
|
|
|
General News: Hearing on Tax Break for Cancer Center
|
| A drawing of the new cancer center, with the existing hospital on the right. |
October 07, 2008
A public hearing was held Tuesday morning at Cornwall town hall about whether the new cancer care treatment center at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital should be granted a sales tax break on four million dollars of equipment it is planning to purchase.
Three people, Cornwall town board member Randy Clark, state assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun and Bob Farkas, a neighbor of the hospital on Laurel Avenue, appeared before the Industrial Development Agency’s chairman, Jim Petro, who led the hearing. The IDA will decide in the weeks ahead whether the cancer center will be exempted from paying $305,000 in state, county and local sales tax on the equipment purchase.
Assemblywoman Calhoun later said she told the IDA that she hoped that it would consider the economic impact of the tax break. “I didn’t speak for or against,” Calhoun said as she recounted her statement. “I felt that in this economic time my main concern is that this could affect another person in the area, Dr. Mishra, who doesn’t get a tax benefit.”
Councilman Clark is opposed to giving the hospital a break on the sales tax after it has already been granted a non-rateable property status. “I would say ‘no’, don’t give them the tax rebate,” Clark said in a phone interview. “But they’re the hospital and nobody’s going to say ‘no’ to them.”
Clark said he also questions why the cancer care center is needed at all, when Cornwall hospital is not even near capacity. Hospital spokeswoman Judi Stokes said that structural and other engineering requirements for a linear accelerator preclude using the existing hospital building.
Beth Duffy, St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital Chief Financial Officer, attended the hearing as well and later said “We’re perplexed that any official elected to represent the interests of our community would seemingly oppose a project that will ensure the delivery of comprehensive cancer care to our entire community, not just those who have health insurance.”
IDA Chairman Petro said that the decision on a tax break will be made in the near future by the IDA board but that he is in favor of granting the hospital’s request. “This is a hospital and cancer center that is important for the community,” he said. “Why not help them move forward?”
Comments:
No comments have been posted.
Add a Comment:
Please signup or login to add a comment.
|
 |
|
|
|
