What to make up of this? The Agenda for the City Council meeting on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 includes a proposed Amendment to the Code of the City of New Rochelle regarding Appointing Authority. You won’t find Bramson’s name on this Agenda item but clearly his fingers are all over it. Supposedly, Omar Small of all people has recommended to Chuck Strome that “the City Manager be given authority to appointed and/or remove the Civil Service Administrator” (emphasis added). And so with this Charter change begins (hopefully) the final days of tax cheat and phony patriot Domenic Procopio as a public official…not with a bang but with an agenda item at a Committee of the Whole Meeting.
There is a special ring in hell for people who gleefully pocket tax payer money by posing as a combat veterans so Procopio’s departure from City Hall cannot come soon enough but what about the thousands in back taxes that were waived for the politically connected Procopio? He was billed by the City for the Combat Veterans exemptions but not billed for the many thousands in STAR exemptions he received for at least 8 years and not penalized in the slightest. In other records, his despicable behavior is being rewarded by our City Manager, the Mayer and every member of the City Council say by silently while Procopio enriched himself. Simply unacceptable.
When confronted about this “free ride” for Procopio, New Rochelle Tax Assessor Louis “Chip” Perone, told Talk of the Sound that STAR exemptions were “not recoverable” and besides the “no one is out anything” because STAR exemptions are reimbursed by the State (which may be news to New York State taxpayers!). In a word, bull—-!
I would invite readers to peruse the letter provided by the State of New York Office of Real Property Services and come to your own conclusion as to whether Mr. Perone is being truthful when he said “STAR is not recoverable” or when he said “it is a State matter” (note the words in bold letters).
Mr. Cox,
By statute, the STAR Exemption, as spelled out in section 425 of the Real Property Tax Law, is available only on the “primary residence” of a property owner. While it is true that a person may live in or occupy more than one dwelling, he or she can only have one “primary” residence. A primary residence is that place in which a person has voluntarily fixed his or her abode with a present intention of making it his or her permanent home.
Nevertheless, there could be a situation where an individual owns several properties, but such individual can have only one primary residence. For example a man can own a property that is his primary residence, but he is also the co-owner of another property with his sister. If it is the sister’s primary residence, it also would be eligible for the STAR Exemption. Thus, the property need not serve as the primary residence of all of the owners, but the property must be the primary residence of at least one of the owners. Then the exemption may be granted even if one of the owners primarily resides elsewhere. Therefore, an assessor may grant individual STAR Exemptions to two separate properties if he/she believes each is the primary residence of at least one of their owners.
An improperly granted STAR Exemption may be revoked and recovered. In addition, there are penalties for making a “material misstatement” on a STAR application, where the applicant “shall be disqualified from further exemption pursuant to this section [RPTL, §425] for a period of five years, and may be subject to prosecution pursuant to the penal law.”
The exemption information you are looking for may be found on the town assessment roll or individual property records. This information is generally regarded as public record and should be openly available to you from the town assessor’s office.
The duty of administering exemptions falls upon the assessor, who annually—in signing his or her assessment roll—attests to the validity of the valuation decisions found on that roll. Assessors do their best to ensure that only those properties that qualify will receive particular exemptions. New York’s Constitution and laws are clear that the functions of local government should remain with localities, with certain exceptions. As such, our agency does not have the authority to investigate charges of official malfeasance and cannot intercede in this matter.
As the City raises taxes, fires City workers and slashes budgets and raises taxes and eliminates 24 hour parking in downtown New Rochelle (more on that later), residents might wonder just what sort of pull you need to have to get tens of thousands of back taxes simply waived away with a flick of a pen.
As we consider that, we should recognize the pseudonymous hero MakeNewRoBetter who stepped up and published a blog post that began the fall of Domenic Procopio: Who is Dominic Procopio and Why is He Chairman of the Municipal Civil Service Commission? which led to the anonymous comment that triggered the Talk of the Sound investigation of Dominic Procopio’s taxes. See? One person can make a difference! You may not be able to fight City Hall but coming together via the Internet We can.
For those who are coming to the story late, here is an archive of some our past stories:
UPDATE: Domenic Procopio’s STAR Exemptions
New Rochelle Tax Assessor Says Public Officials Should Report “Clerical Errors” on Tax Exemptions
Peter Ferrari Military Personnel Records – A Little Help Please
civil service
civil service admin. was beverly silverman who domenic removed and put in a person from the tax office. wink ,wink. and so the cover up goes on.
Standard Operating Procedure
It is my understanding that the tax department vacancy was filled by a city employee previously slated for termination. To be specific New Rochelle has a LIMITED HIRING FREEZE based on necessity of position and impact on the operation as determined by the City Manager without council input. This allows “wiggle room” to protect insiders, relatives, friends, relatives of friends etc. AKA the underground. New Rochelle needs the wholesale change President Obama promised but is unable to deliver.
Anthony Galletta
Now,Now lets not pick on the mayor
Afterall , let’s face it , he’s completely beholding to Mr Procopio and the calabria society . Didn’t they just have their annual dinner in honor of the mayor ? I would be curious to see just how much Procopio and his cronies bring to the mayors political machine . How else would a confirmed tax cheat and a person incapable of even taking the civil service exam let alone passing it be able to hold on to a public position ? He owes Procopio so he’s not about to cut off one of the many hands that feeds him . So what’s a poor mayor to do . I guess he took a lesson from the godfather . The head of la famiglia doesn’t get his hands dirty – he hires a hit man ( Strome ) to do his dirty work . How convenient that Omar ” the puppet ” just ” happens ” to come up with his own version of an original idea just as the pressure mounts against tax cheat Procopio . Coincidence ? Hardly . And like all good mafia Dons , Bramson says on the radio – why , I didn’t even have a chance to speak to Mr Strome about this council agenda item – . Pleaing the 5th are we now ? Says a lot about the mayors character (or lack of ). He’ll shamelessly take money from anyone and offer an avenue of pay for play , that is until the %&it hits the fan . Then just as quickly he calls the hit man and denies it ever happened . Well mr Procopio , the mayors been flipped and he’s handing you over to the wolves . I’ll bet he tells you something like “I’m sorry Domenic , it was completely out of my hands . It was that city manager guy and his cohort all along . They never even told me about it . I would never do that to you after all the money you raised for me . Really … No Really it wasn’t me .
I hope no one wakes up next to a horses head . ( or maybe in this case it would be Capelli’s or Naperstek’s head )