CITY NEWS - 12/05/07 - CRMC pledges to make potential property acquisitions known

Joe McIntyre/staff photographer
A woman uses the main entrance of Cortland Regional Medical Center this morning.

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

Mayor Tom Gallagher said Tuesday Cortland Regional Medical Center officials pledged last week to stay in communication about potential property acquisitions and their possible uses.

Gallagher discussed during Tuesday’s Common Council meeting the results of a meeting he and city Director of Administration and Finance Andy Damiano had with hospital officials regarding their 30-year development plan and recent property purchases, such as the Kleen Korner on the corner of Van Hoesen Street and Homer Avenue.

Gallagher, Damiano and other city officials have been involved in talks with CRMC management since the hospital’s expansion became an issue this summer.

The Kleen Korner property would be demolished and replaced with a medical office building, half of which would be taxable, Gallagher said.

“That building would probably be assessed at a lot more than the Kleen Korner was,” Gallagher said this morning, and it would probably result in a net increase in taxes.

The council was supportive of and stressed the need for open discussions with the hospital regarding future plans, as well as possibilities for reimbursement of the loss of taxable properties.

The issue of the hospital’s expansion became a major campaign issue for Common Council candidates in the late summer and fall, with many criticizing CRMC’s continued expansion.

The loss of property tax revenue for parking lots inflamed both the council and the city Planning Commission, which approved one such parking lot expansion last week.

As of August, $365,000 in assessed valuation had been lost due to the expansion of the hospital in recent years. Damiano has said that the city loses out on $4 million worth of property taxes because of the hospital’s tax-exempt status.

City officials have been clamoring for some kind of reimbursement of this lost revenue, but the law protects the hospital’s non-profit status and the city does not have the ability to compel CRMC to pay any monies to the city for essential services, such as police and fire protection. The hospital does pay for its water and sewer services, which Gallagher said are substantial.
Gallagher said this morning that the hospital owns about 41 properties in the city, about 33 of which are tax-exempt.

He said CRMC officials are “very sensitive” to the tax situation.

Hospital officials are hoping to straighten the intersection of North Main Street and West Main Street, which Gallagher said CRMC would foot the bill for.
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Staff reporter Aimee Milks contributed to this article.