A Garden City realty company has filed suit against Nassau Assessor Harvey Levinson, alleging that he illegally revoked tax breaks granted the firm by the Hempstead Industrial Development Authority.
The suit filed by the firm that owns and renovated the former Endo manufacturing plant in Garden City contends that Levinson’s actions were “illegal, improper and contrary to law.”
It also notes that Levinson, who chairs the Nassau Board of Assessors, acted without required board approval when he decided to override tax breaks granted by the town Industrial Development Authority and impose full special district levies.
Lawyer Jon Santemma, representing A.G. Metropolitan Endo, said the suit filed in State Supreme Court in Mineola last week asks the tax imposed by Levinson “be declared illegal, the bills be canceled and the payments refunded, plus interest and costs.” No sum is specified.
The suit apparently is the first filed by any of the 144 businesses to formally challenge the $8 million in tax bills received this year because of Levinson’s action.
To promote economic development, state law exempts IDA projects from real estate taxes. The agencies usually negotiate “payments in lieu of taxes,” or PILOTs, in which the companies agree to pay local taxing jurisdictions less than their full property tax burden for a period of years - generally a decade - in return for creating or retaining jobs locally.
With IDA incentives, AG Metropolitan spent $33 million to buy and renovate the vacant Endo building, which now has tenants such as Lifetime Brands and more than 400 employees.
Levinson, however, contends the PILOTs do not exempt “special ad valorem” levies, which he interprets as requiring that the companies pay their full amount of taxes for special districts such as county police, fire, library or sewage disposal.
Based on this interpretation, Levinson directed that tax bills be sent to the 144 firms this year over and above their existing PILOT agreements. AG Metropolitan was billed $125,307 in January for its first half tax instead of the PILOT agreement amount of $99,458.
Levinson spokesman Randolph Yunker said, “Mr. Levinson and his counsel believe that they have interpreted the law correctly and are strictly enforcing the terms of the IDA PILOTs that were agreed to by the businesses now suing the
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board of assessors.”
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1 lawyer » Blog Archive » Assessor sued over Taxes(new comment) // Apr 20, 2008 at 9:27 am
[...] David Wood wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLawyer Jon Santemma, representing AG Metropolitan Endo, said the suit filed in State Supreme Court in Mineola last week asks the tax imposed by Levinson “be declared illegal, the bills be canceled and the payments refunded, … [...]
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