Town of Chester passes fee schedule for SLPAC

The Chester Town Board passed a fee schedule for the main theater and pavilion rentals of the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center. The town is hoping to bring in more revenue at the PAC, which runs a deficit of more than $100,000 per year.

The cost for rental of the main theater Friday through Sunday will be $2,500 for commercial and non-profit clients. For Monday through Thursday rentals the fee will be $2,000 for commercial and $1,500 for non-profits and for July and August rentals the fee will also be $2,000 for commercial and $1,500 for non-profits.

Pavilion rental fees for Friday through Sunday will be $750 for commercial and non-profits. Fees for Monday through Thursday will be $600 for commercial and $500 for non-profits. Fees for July and August will also be $600 for commercial and $500 for non-profits.

The board could not agree on a reduced fee schedule and tabled the matter. In the past year, the town has routinely given non-profits free access to the PAC, a practice board members have questioned.

Moratorium extended

In other news, the board voted to extend the building moratorium to June 22, 2025 and also introduced a new law allowing them to extend the moratorium even further if they feel it is necessary.

A public hearing will be held May 28.

The moratorium is in place for any project over four units pending the completion of the comprehensive plan.

In other business

The board held a public hearing on a local law to opt-out of the 485B tax exemption. The opt-out is an option the state has given localities. The 485B exemption gives businesses a 10-year 50 percent tax deduction for expanding or starting a business. It is not well-known, however, as the exemption has only been used once in the past 10 years according to Supervisor Brandon Holdridge.

Businesses usually rely on the IDA to negotiate tax breaks and don’t use 485B, which is a state law that dates back to the 1970s. Local businessman Richard Logothetis was concerned about the repeal of the tax exemption. He said the tax breaks he received for starting his business were key to his success. “Your job is to entice business; not to knock it down.”

The board passed the opt-out to the 485B exemption 4-0, with Councilman Antonio Ardisana absent.

The board set a May 28 public hearing to discuss a law conferring new powers on the comptroller position.

They passed a request for a road closure on Kings Highway on Oct. 4 from 8 to 10 a.m. for a 5K race sponsored by the Sugar Loaf Community Foundation.

The board passed a resolution to hire Mark Bono for the seasonal part-time Parks and Rec park attendant position at a rate of $15.50 per hour.

The board passed a resolution to appoint Joe Delaney as a voting member of the Parks Advisory Board. The board recently lost most of its members as a group of them decided to become fundraisers for a project at Carpenter Field. Board members cannot raise money, so the project required them to resign from the board.

The board passed a resolution on an asset capitalization policy. According to the agenda the resolution “outlines how to value capital assets, decide which expenditures should be capitalized as capital assets and which expenditures should be expensed, and estimate the life span of capital assets.”

The board voted to invest $4,600 in a technology that will help them track short-term rentals in the town. They expect to get double their money back in new taxes on Air BnBs.