NY State Supreme Court Upholds Veto of Tax Benefits to Proposed Amazon Warehouse

The project will not be receiving an $80 million tax break from the Orange County Industrial Development Agency.

The site of a proposed Amazon warehouse at 22 McBride Road in the Town of Wawayanda, N.Y., on Oct. 24, 2025. Oliver Mantyk/The Epoch Times

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—The New York Supreme Court denied an Amazon warehouse project an $80 million property tax break, ruling against the Orange County Industrial Development Agency.

State Sen. James Skoufis announced on July 1 that the Supreme Court had sided with the development agency’s state-appointed monitor in a dispute with the agency.

In November 2025, the state monitor, Brian Sanvidge, vetoed a development agency-approved 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program for a planned Amazon distribution center in the town of Wawayanda, near the city of Middletown. The agency challenged the monitor’s veto in December.

The reason Sanvidge provided for vetoing the proposal was that Amazon and the development agency had failed to answer his questions adequately, and eventually stopped communicating with him altogether.

Industrial Development Agency CEO Bill Fioravanti said that the veto was the result of pressure from Skoufis. The agency took the veto to court, because the monitor may have waited too long to respond to the agency’s decision, as he had a three-day window after the tax break had passed to submit questions.

The court ultimately decided in the monitor’s favor.

Skoufis celebrated the court’s decision, saying in a July 1 statement that it was well-reasoned and intelligent. He said the challenge was a waste of money and did not prioritize taxpayers.

The county development agency told The Epoch Times on July 2 that it was disappointed that the case wasn’t decided in its favor, as the monitor had issued the veto after the agreed-upon time limit had expired.

The proposed 3.2 million-square-foot distribution center would have generated $70 million in tax revenue and created 750 permanent jobs. The agency said that this would’ve been the largest private investment Orange County had ever seen, and that they will continue to focus on what benefits county taxpayers, businesses, and communities.

Sanvidge told The Epoch Times in a phone interview on July 2 that he is happy to have this behind both himself and the agency. He maintained that he had made the veto decision within the agreed time frame.

“We always felt extremely confident that this would be the end result of it,” Sanvidge said. “To have the judge take the time to write a 23-page decision and affirm our position is tremendously gratifying.”

The Amazon warehouse project is currently facing legal challenges due to the project’s proposed height, 104 feet, being higher than the area’s build limit of 65 feet.