Press Release

Montgomery County Approves Revenue Sharing Agreement With Fulton County

Agreement Splits Property Tax Between Counties On Proposed Regional Business Park's 265 Acre Site

FONDA - On Tuesday, Montgomery County approved a 50/50 revenue sharing agreement with Fulton County, regarding the proposed Regional Business Park, the single largest and most promising site in the region for economic development. The revenue sharing agreement is the culmination of months of work together from officials in Montgomery and Fulton counties.

"This site provides a transformational opportunity for the county and the region to create jobs and strengthen our economy," said County Executive Matthew L. Ossenfort. "This is the next step towards marketing the site to large companies, with the goal of attracting good paying jobs and giving the local economy a much needed boost."

At a special meeting, on Tuesday, the Montgomery County Legislature passed Resolution 282, authorizing the County Executive to sign the annexation revenue sharing agreement with Fulton County. The agreement is a 50 percent split of property taxes for the 265 acres in the town of Mohawk. The 80-year revenue sharing agreement involves land that would be annexed from Mohawk into the city of Johnstown, which would then supply the water and sewer services to the site. An application for shovel-ready certification has been already submitted to Empire State Development, New York's chief economic development agency.

On Monday, Nov. 23, the Fulton County Board of Supervisors approved the agreement, which has been jointly pursued by both counties for months. In September, a revenue sharing agreement was presented to the Montgomery County Legislature and was later amended to increase the length of the agreement to 80 years.

This site provides such a transformational opportunity that it was included in the MV500 proposal Sparking Transformation, which was submitted to the State, as part of the Mohawk Valley's prospectus for the Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

"This is a terrific example of working together, with the best interest of residents in mind, to chart a path towards a more prosperous future," Ossenfort said. "The truth is that this is the most promising economic opportunity for Fulton-Montgomery region. It is encouraging to see this level of inter-municipal cooperation, especially when working on an economic development project of this magnitude. I'm pleased that we are moving forward."