$140 Million aid pool backs towns hit by plant closures

In New York, a closed power plant can leave more than an empty building behind. For Barker Central School District, the bill is meant to soften the loss of a major taxpayer by letting the state step in with annual aid when a generating facility inside a district has stopped operating.

The trigger is narrow. The closure has to have cut property-tax collections or payments in lieu of taxes, often called PILOTs, by at least 20 percent.

A state backstop, with a ceiling

The money would come from the Urban Development Corporation and would be available only when funding exists. The total pot could not exceed $140 million, and eligible communities would be paid on a first-come, first-served basis.

The bill is broader than Barker. It covers counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts and special districts, as long as a qualifying generating facility in their borders shut down on or after June 25, 2015. State or local development officials would confirm the revenue hit before payments go out, and the help could last no more than seven years.