The Greentree Country Club, which counts New Rochelle City Manager Chuck Strome among its most prominent members, owes more than half-million dollars in back taxes and interest making it by far the single biggest tax delinquent in the City of New Rochelle. The Greentree owes $503,905.18 on its property at 538 Davenport Avenue. The amount represents about one-tenth of all back taxes owed in New Rochelle, sources say.
PDF FILE: Greentree Country Club Tax FIle
The Greentree was recently cited by the City for holding an illegal, for-profit event which generated many hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for event organizers who are facing fines of a few thousands dollars. It is illegal for the beach clubs on Davenport Neck to sell tickets to events. The event was the third illegal event held at the Greentree over the past year.
The tax problems and zoning violations of the Greentree represent a direct conflict of interest for the New Rochelle City Manager. Strome is a beneficiary of the illegal events because revenue from the events goes to offset the cost of membership dues and assessments including his own. Strome also benefits when the City provides what amounts to a low-interest, six-figure loan to his country club.
Strome has declined to respond to questions about his membership in the Greentree Country Club or the appearance of a conflict of interest in the City’s dealings with the club.
Strome recently unveiled a proposed 2010 budget which calls for a budget cut of $4 million and eliminating police officers, fire fighters and sanitation workers. Some residents may question why Strome is cutting cops and fireman when he has not begun legal proceedings against his own Davenport Neck beach club for a massive tax debt which equals 1/8th of the amount he has proposed to be cut from the budget.
Tax records obtained by Talk of the Sound show a principal due of $402,688.78 and interest due of $101,216.40. The percentage of taxes owed to the school district are about 65% of the total bringing the amount owed to the school district to roughly $328,000.
A tax bill for $61,159.95 was paid by the Greentree in 2009. Sources familiar with the situation tell Talk of the Sound this is common practice. The City can begin foreclosure proceedings if a property owner is more than two years delinquent on their taxes. By paying a small amount every so often the property owner, in effect, resets the clock and buys more time. The high level of interest payments relative to principle suggests the Greentree has been running a large debt for the past several years.
The school district has recently announced plans to hire “tax certiori” lawyers to challenge tax appeals by local property owners in order to “recoup” money lost to the district during the recent wave of tax appeals which have increased over 300% from last year. Many residents will be wondering why the district is spending money hiring lawyers to litigate with property owners about perfectly legal reductions in tax assessments when the City Manager’s country club owes the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.
Last month, Talk of the Sound revealed that Strome waived thousands of dollars in back taxes owed by another city official, Domenic Procopio, Chairman of New Rochelle’s Civil Service Commission. Procopio had improperly received two Combat Veteran tax exemptions for at least 8 years on his property at 7 Pinebrook Road in New Rochelle. The City of New Rochelle has claimed that the deductions were granted to a previous homeowner and were carried forward in error when the property changed hands. The City has failed to produce any records that the previous owner applied for any deductions or that the previous owner served in the military. Sources have confirmed that Mr. Procopio, an immigrant from Italy, never served in the U.S. military.
Various elected officials strongly discouraged Talk of the Sound from reporting on Domenic Procopio’s tax problems. One official described Procopio as “untouchable”. Procopio is the long-time President of Casa Calabria, a major political donor to Democratic politicians and someone viewed by Westchester party officials as a person able to deliver the Italian-American vote in New Rochelle. Procopio lunches regularly with Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll at Mama Francesca’s restaurant on Shore Road in New Rochelle. While Mayor, County Clerk Tim Idoni was also a regular at Procopio’s table.
In seeking to obtain records and answers regarding Procopio’s improper tax deductions, Strome repeatedly stonewalled, refusing to answer questions and failing to provide access to public records in accordance with the New York State Freedom of Information Law.
Only several weeks after Talk of the Sound first broke the story was Procopio ordered to pay back the improper Combat Veterans exemptions but Procopio was allowed by Strome to keep all of the money from the far larger STAR property tax exemptions. STAR exemptions are reserved for homeowners who claim a deduction on their primary residence. Procopio has a second STAR exemption for 126 Liberty Avenue which he lists as his primary residence in New Rochelle.
New York State law allows local governments to recover money for STAR exemptions granted on property not the primary residence of the owner and punish the recipient by removing STAR exemptions on a primary residence for up to five years. Sources tell Talk of the Sound that the City has removed STAR exemptions worth a quarter-million dollars over the past two years under an innovative program initiated not by the tax assessor but by the buildings department which now includes a STAR check on homes it inspects for building code violations.
Talk of the Sound spoke with New Rochelle Tax Assessor Louis Pirone about Procopio. Asked to explain why no action was taken against Procopio for the improper STAR exemptions, Pirone initially claimed that STAR was a “state program” and so only the State could pursue back taxes owed due to an improper STAR exemption. When it was pointed out to him that the Combat Veteran Tax Exemption program was also a state program and he was ordering Procopio to pay back those taxes, Pirone then claimed that under New York State law “STAR is not restorable”, meaning that by statute the City of New Rochelle is not permitted to seek back taxes on improperly granted STAR exemptions.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance holds otherwise. A representative of the Office of Real Property Services told Talk of the Sound that under the New York State Constitution and by Statute, the decision rests solely with the local government. Not only is it not the role of the state to collect local taxes but the New York State Constitution specifically prohibits the State from being involved in any way. The decision on whether to pursue back taxes for improper STAR exemptions is, by statute, up to the municipal tax assessor. Louis Pirone works for City Manager Charles Strome.
Under the City Code, Procopio is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor of New Rochelle. Procopio was appointed by then-Mayor and current Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni and retained by Mayor Noam Bramson. City officials, speaking off the record, initially claimed that Procopio was unaware of the exemptions, intimating that a bank servicing company had been receiving the dozens of tax exemption notices sent by the City since 2002. After Talk of the Sound confirmed that the tax deduction notices had been sent directly to Procopio, the City claimed that Procopio did not understand the meaning of the tax deduction notices due to limited English-language skills.
Talk of the Sound was unable to find any official who could explain why someone who could not read a simple, one-page tax deduction notice had been put in charge of a department responsible for hiring hundreds of civil service employees, positions regulated by voluminous and ever-changing New York State civil service laws.
The Greentree tax issues first came to light in the wake of a Talk of the Sound investigation into the recent illegal event held at the beach club, a series of autograph signing sessions with current and former Yankee stars including Alex Rodriguez, Joba Chamberlain and Joe Girardi, was organized by Steiner Sports Marketing which sold tickets for up to $475. Two previous events, sponsored by the club members, were “Oldies” night dance parties where tickets were sold for $85.
