PILOT for Premier Brands

On Friday afternoon, the Columbia County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) held a public hearing on offering financial incentives to Premier Brands, the company that is purchasing the former Emsig Button Factory at the far north end of Second Street. The building was most recently owned and occupied by Hudson Fabrics.

Premier Brands deals in personal health care products, packaging their own brand and house brands for various chain stores. The facility will start out employing 25 people, and it is expected that, in a few years, there will be more than 100 employees, most of whom, it is anticipated, will live within walking distance of the facility. 

The IDA is considering offering Premier Brands exemptions from mortgage tax and county sales tax on purchases made to rehab the building and a "standard" PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes). By the terms of the PILOT, property tax is reduced by 50 percent in the first year, and the percentage of reduction decreases by 5 percent every year for 10 years--45 percent in the second year, 40 percent in the third year, and so on--until the business is paying its full property tax. The PILOT affects property taxes paid to the City of Hudson and the Hudson City School District, as well as the county. The incentives will be voted on at the IDA's next regular meeting on the first Tuesday in April.

The point was made yesterday that this is the first time since 1967 that the Columbia County IDA has done a project in the City of Hudson. The reason given was that there was a question of whether or not the Hudson IDA was qualified to take on the project, but the comment was made that "it was encouraging to see greater cooperation between the City and the County."