Just a Reminder , Your School Taxes Are Just Around The Corner

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

In a few months , we’ll be hearing from our old friends at the board of ed as they pass the hat to squeeze us dry . Are you doing any better this year than last ? Does the raise the district gave themselves have any context now ? Did Martian Daly do the right thing for the taxpayers or for his own ? They vote for their own raises behind locked doors and the city council is laying off firemen and cops . Patterson is pulling more money out of the schools . Costs (including the full year kindergarten) have gone up and Quinn can’t turn the lights off fast enough to offset the increases . The district want’s to hire lawyers to “review” YOUR tax certioaries , yet they won’t hire a financial analyst to evaluate the impacts of the economic climate they exist in . Will Organisciak choke on his own lies , will Quinn ever feel remorse for the mistreatment of the public trust , will Martian Daly be exposed for the true damage he does to our city (it’s not his city – he could care less) , will Polow return to lucidity , will Jeff Hastie grow a backbone ? It could happen , right? Merry Christmas !

One thought on “Just a Reminder , Your School Taxes Are Just Around The Corner”

  1. Greentree Owes District $325,000
    After the board meeting a couple weeks ago, out in the parking lot, board member David Lacher said in front of quite a few people that my story about the tax certs was “wrong” and that he was not worried about the Greentree Country Club owing half a million in taxes because the City made the school district whole for their share of that money (about $325,000). This in response to a point I had made that before they spend a dime on hiring these “tax cert” lawyers they might want to take steps to collect the money owed by Chuck Strome’s country club.

    I told him that if I was wrong I would certainly want to know why and would happily correct any errors in my story just so that the residents of New Rochelle had a full understanding of what was going on.

    So, I did check and I do have some new information about the idea of hiring tax cert lawyers. Not that I was necessarily wrong but that the school board is not currently planning to do what I had reported. It may be that I was wrong or it may be that after my story ran the board changed their tune. Since they never published an RFP for hiring the tax cert lawyers we will never know. In either case, if I get the OK to publish what I was told I will do so. In either case, I do not think the public should have to decipher the actions of the school board. The board are elected officials spending public funds and should PROACTIVELY inform the community of EVERYTHING they are doing accepting those things covered under the NYS Open Meeting Law.

    However, on the issue of the Greentree, Mr. Lacher acknowledged Tuesday night after the board meeting that he was wrong about the City making the district whole on the $325,000 owed by the Greentree. John Quinn, the district finance chief, referenced this during remarks to the board about the district’s dire financial condition. Quinn said that the City makes the district whole for unpaid taxes that are more than 2 years old. The $500,000 figure we published is all for taxes that are less than 2 years old.

    After the meeting I asked Mr. Lacher, who also serves on the IDA, if he had heard Mr. Quinn say that the City did not make the District whole on unpaid taxes less than two years old. He said he had heard that. I then asked whether he now understood that what I had written previously about the district being out the money from the Greentree was correct. He said he agreed that I was correct. I asked him if he recalled that he said he was not worried about the Greentree money because the district was being made whole. He said he did recall that. I then asked whether, now that he knows the district is not being made whole whether he was now worried. He said “Yes, I’m worried”.

    I could not resist asking whether he thought that the Greentree was getting special treatment because it was Chuck Strome’s country club. He declined to give an answer.

    I already know Chuck’s explanation for the free ride he has been giving to his club, that they have filed a tax cert and the City is awaiting the outcome. This is, of course, nonsense because the City routinely collects money and then REFUNDS the money if necessary. Also, whatever the outcome of the Greentree’s tax cert appeal, no one believes that the court is going to rule they owe NO TAXES. If Chuck believes that the City is going to lose the appeal he should just settle the case. If he is just being cautious he could just collect the money and then set it aside. The City and District are BORROWING MONEY to fund this outstanding tax liability. Shouldn’t this be the other way around?

    I would love to hear someone in the City government explain why the taxpayers should be on the hook for what amounts to a half-million dollar loan to the City Manager’s country club. The City is entitled to $175,000 of that Greentree money which represents about 22% of the $800,000 cut from the City budget last week. Now I am sure there is all sorts of financial mumbo-jumbo that City officials can spew to cloud the issue but the simple fact is that the biggest debtor to the City and the School District just happens to be the City Manager’s personal club.

    If Chuck Strome is not going to move to collect the half-mil then the least he can do is resign his membership from the Greentree because right now this whole thing stinks.

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