In early January 2007, the Niagara County, New York, Industrial Development Agency (IDA) granted a history-making Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT). Henry Sloma, Chairperson of the Niagara County IDA (NCIDA), and Kevin Pierce, Vice President and Director of the AES NY, LLC, signed allegedly legal paperwork that removes the profitable coal fired power plant, locally known as AES Somerset, from the tax rolls.

Industrial Development Agencies normally grant tax cuts to companies in the form of Payment in Lieu of Taxes for two reasons:

1. To help a company from closing or leaving the area and taking all its jobs with it when it leaves, or

2. To aid a company in financing new facilities construction that will create new jobs.

The AES Somerset power plant, instead of paying taxes based on its assed value, now pays a determined fee that is much lower (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) and that will decline for four years and then is fixed for eight years.

Merrill Bender, Somerset Sentinel blog publisher, in Somerset, New York, has launched a new website to aid other businesses in getting the same type of tax cut that Niagara County granted to the coal fired power plant in 2007.

The new website gives help to owners of business who pay the Niagara County property taxes by teaching the business owners how they might qualify for a cut in property taxes in the form of a Payment in Lieu of Taxes.

A precedent may be set for this county's businesses and they should not now have to promise the new jobs or be at risk of leaving or closing to qualify for a tax cut. Bender's newly launched site shows these business owners how they may be able to apply for a property tax cut. For more information, visit http://www.idataxcut.com