COCHECTON, NY ― The Cochecton town board held its regularly scheduled meeting on August 12 and discussed taxing local Airbnbs, as well as the  challenge of assessing taxes on the Millennium Pipeline.

Additionally, town supervisor Gary Maas was back for the first meeting after a 6 month medical leave. Maas said he was getting better every day. “Prayers—they tell me they work,” he chuckled.

Millennium Pipeline

The Millennium Pipeline is an 263-mile interstate pipeline that provides natural gas through New York state and New England. 

When it was originally built, the pipeline was provided with Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements, reducing the amount of taxes it owed up front. As those agreements expired in 2023-24, the pipeline sought to challenge the assessment of its properties. 

Cochecton town officials agreed to a settlement on the Millennium Pipeline assessment challenge during Wednesday’s meeting. The settlement was reached in collaboration with other county municipalities, who shared the same attorney. 

The town would lose a total of $20,000 annually from this assessment compared to the pre-settlement picture. However, it would not have to reimburse the pipeline for the 2025 and 2026 taxes it received, according to planning board chairman Robert Smith. 

The settlement would only last for three years, then likely would be revisited. Maas speculated that the properties could see a $1 to 2 million increase in valuation after the settlement agreement is over. 

Despite the $20,000 annual loss, Maas said that “if we [the town] went to court, it could get a lot worse.”

“We did the best we could,” he said.

Maas added that the state tax cap, in part due to the pipeline settlement, would be hard to meet this year. The state sets a 2% tax on how much a local municipality can raise its property taxes year on year. 

“It’s gonna be a real pisser,” he commented.

Short-term rentals

Gaas later brought up the idea that the town should be charging a municipal tax on short-term rentals in the area, particularly Airbnbs.

Gaas stated that Cochecton has 80 Airbnbs, with an average nightly rate of $374. While Sullivan County already has a county-wide 5% room tax on short-term rentals, Maas cited that towns like Highland already have a town annual fee of $500, and an initial permitting fee of $1,000.

“It’s a big business that up until this point we had no control over,” Gaas said, urging board members to consider municipal room fees. 

The next town board meeting will be on September 9.