Hoffman Falls Wind is seeking sales tax, property tax, transfer tax and mortgage recording relief plus a PILOT across Nelson, Fenner, Eaton and Smithfield. Two outlets have reported the value. Their numbers differ by a factor of seven.
The Madison County Industrial Development Agency will hold four public hearings on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25 on a request for tax breaks from Hoffman Falls Wind LLC, according to notices the agency published for each of the four towns the project would cross.
This story came from public records we pulled ourselves
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Residents planning to speak at those hearings will not find the size of the request in the notice. CNY Signal read all four notices in full. Not one of them contains a dollar figure of any kind.
The hearings
Each town gets its own hearing, and the four notices are otherwise identical in substance, down to a shared document reference number that indicates one template was used for all four.
– **Town of Nelson:** Monday, Aug. 24, 5:00 p.m., Town of Nelson Town Hall, 4085 Nelson Road
– **Town of Fenner:** Monday, Aug. 24, 6:45 p.m., Town of Fenner Town Hall, 3151 Fenner East Road
– **Town of Eaton:** Tuesday, Aug. 25, 5:00 p.m., Town of Eaton Town Offices, 35 Cedar Street
– **Town of Smithfield:** Tuesday, Aug. 25, 6:45 p.m., Town of Smithfield Town Hall, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road
The hearings are held under Section 859-a(2) of New York’s General Municipal Law. Each notice says the agency “will at said time and place hear all persons with views on either the location and nature of the proposed Project, or the Financial Assistance being contemplated.”
All four are dated Aug. 7, 2026 and signed by Kipp Hicks, executive director of the agency.
What the project is, according to the notices
The applicant named in the documents is Hoffman Falls Wind LLC, described as a New York State limited liability company. The notices do not name a parent company or developer.
The project as described in the notices consists of a leasehold interest in one or more parcels totaling approximately 33 acres spanning the towns of Eaton, Fenner, Nelson and Smithfield; a building of approximately 7,500 square feet; and up to eighteen wind turbine generators with an aggregate installed generating capacity of approximately 110 MW. It also covers related equipment including electrical infrastructure, substations, transformers, breakers, and underground and overhead cabling.
The 33-acre figure is a leasehold footprint, not the span of the project area. The turbines would be distributed across four towns.
What is being asked for
The notices list the categories of what New York law calls “financial assistance,” within the meaning of Section 854(14). Hoffman Falls Wind is seeking potential exemptions from:
– sales and use taxes
– real property taxes
– real estate transfer taxes
– mortgage recording taxes
On top of those exemptions, the notices describe a payment in lieu of taxes arrangement. The mechanism works like this, in the language of the notices: if the project would be subject to real property taxation if owned by the company, but is deemed exempt because the agency is involved with it, then the property tax exemption applies “subject to the obligation of the Company to make payments in lieu of taxes.” The agency would take the property and lease it back, under a lease “with an obligation to purchase,” or sell it.
The notices also flag that the request may not fit the agency’s own rules. Each one states that if any portion of the assistance “is not consistent with the Agency’s uniform tax exemption policy, the Agency will follow the procedures for deviation from such policy set forth in Section 874(4) of the Act prior to granting such portion of the Financial Assistance.”
That is a standard clause, but it signals the deviation process is live rather than hypothetical.
On environmental review, each notice states plainly: “The Agency has not yet made a determination pursuant to Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law (the ‘SEQR Act’) regarding the potential environmental impact of the Project.”
The number that is not there
The public record and the press coverage diverge sharply on how much money is at stake.
WRVO Public Media reported on Aug. 13, in a story by Dave Bullard, that “Liberty wants $30 million in tax relief over the next 20 years,” identifying Liberty Renewables as the developer behind Hoffman Falls Wind.
The Cazenovia Republican, in a story published Aug. 12 and updated Aug. 16, reported a very different total. It described the application as requesting “the exemption of combined taxes (real property, sales tax, and mortgage recording taxes) over the next 20 years totaling approximately $4,070,688.”
Both figures are presented as 20-year totals of tax relief for the same application. They differ by a factor of about 7.4.
CNY Signal has not confirmed either number. Neither figure appears in any of the four public notices. Neither outlet published the underlying calculation, and neither states whether its total represents the gross value of the exemptions or the net amount after the payments Hoffman Falls Wind would still make under a PILOT. Those are different measures and would produce different numbers.
CNY Signal has not inspected the application itself. The notices say a copy is on file at the office of the agency and “available for public inspection during business hours at the offices of the Agency.” The agency’s address, given in the notices for written comments, is 3215 Seneca Turnpike, Canastota, New York 13032, and the listed telephone number is (315) 697-9817.
Until that application is examined, the gap between $4.07 million and $30 million is unresolved on the public record. Anyone attending a hearing this week will be commenting on a request whose size the notice does not disclose.
The county’s position
Madison County’s Board of Supervisors has asked the agency to say no.
According to the Cazenovia Republican, the board passed a resolution requesting that the industrial development agency deny the PILOT, finding that “the magnitude of the requested tax exemptions is disproportionate to any demonstrable long-term economic and employment benefits.” The same account says the resolution raised concerns about “placement of one of the proposed turbines and its risk of interference with one of Madison County’s 911 Towers.”
WRVO quoted County Administrator Mark Scimone saying that “PILOTs are supposed to be incentives for creation of jobs and business development,” and noting the project would create only two permanent jobs. WRVO also quoted Scimone saying “the board just doesn’t want to incentivize, they just want them to pay their fair share.”
WRVO reported that the county and Liberty Renewables are in litigation over the concern that a proposed tower could interfere with emergency communications, and that Liberty says it has more than 70 percent local support and that the project represents more than $450 million in county investment. CNY Signal has not verified those claims from either side.
The board’s resolution is a request. The industrial development agency is a separate public authority, and the notices give no indication that it has decided anything.
A note on the turbine count
The number of turbines is not consistent across the public record either.
The state Department of Public Service announced on Dec. 22, 2025 that the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission had issued the final siting permit for Hoffman Falls Wind. That release states “The facility will include up to 24 wind turbines.” The industrial development agency notices, dated nearly eight months later, say up to eighteen.
The state release also describes the project in its opening paragraph as “a 100 megawatt (MW) solar facility,” an apparent error in the state’s own announcement for what every other document treats as a wind project.
WRVO reported the project as “18 or 19 wind turbines, aiming to create 109.8 megawatts of power when fully operating,” which is close to the roughly 110 MW the notices describe.
The most recent primary document, and the one governing this week’s hearings, is the agency notice: up to 18 turbines, approximately 110 MW.
What comes next
Written comments may be addressed to Kipp Hicks at the agency’s Canastota address. Each notice says a transcript or summary report of the hearing will be made available to the members of the agency.
The agency’s website lists its next board meeting as Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026 at 3 p.m. The notices do not state when a decision on the application would be made.
Sources
**Primary**
– Madison County IDA, Notice of Public Hearing, Town of Nelson: https://www.madisoncountyida.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/08/NOTICE-OF-PUBLIC-HEARING-TOWN-OF-NELSON69923104.1.pdf
– Madison County IDA, Notice of Public Hearing, Town of Fenner: https://www.madisoncountyida.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/08/NOTICE-OF-PUBLIC-HEARING-TOWN-OF-FENNER69923101.1.pdf
– Madison County IDA, Notice of Public Hearing, Town of Eaton: https://www.madisoncountyida.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/08/NOTICE-OF-PUBLIC-HEARING-TOWN-OF-EATON69923093.1.pdf
– Madison County IDA, Notice of Public Hearing, Town of Smithfield: https://www.madisoncountyida.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/08/NOTICE-OF-PUBLIC-HEARING-TOWN-OF-SMITHFIELD69923107.1.pdf
– Madison County IDA website: https://www.madisoncountyida.com/
– New York State Department of Public Service, permit approval announcement, Dec. 22, 2025: https://dps.ny.gov/news/dps-announces-approval-renewable-energy-project-madison-county
**Secondary, credited in the text**
– WRVO Public Media, Dave Bullard, Aug. 13, 2026: https://www.wrvo.org/2026-08-13/the-developer-of-a-madison-county-windfarm-wants-tax-breaks-the-county-wants-to-say-no
– Cazenovia Republican, Eagle News Online, Aug. 12, 2026, updated Aug. 16, 2026: https://www.eaglenewsonline.com/cazenovia_republican/madison-county-board-of-supervisors-requests-madison-county-ida-deny-pilot-for-hoffman-falls-wind/article_ec535e9a-d7f1-4f03-b75e-f84177c4ac29.html
