According to a revised email from Supervisor Paul Feiner, traditionally a reassessment results in one third of the taxable properties increasing in market value, one third staying the same and one third decreasing in market value.
For unexplained reasons, this rule of thumb did not operate in Greenburgh.
For example, The Jefferson site is now vacant land. According to the developer's filings, it contains just over 10 acres. However, according to Supervisor Feiner, in Greenburgh, 3% of the vacant land decreased in value, 59% stayed the same and 38% increased in value.
The last tax assessment was done over 60 years ago in 1956. These figures lead to a number of questions:
How does vacant land in Greenburgh decrease in value over half a century?
How does vacant land in Greenburgh not increase in value in over half a century?
What accounts for 59% of the vacant land in Greenburgh being assessed at the same rate as in 1956?
If you compare the vacant land tax assessment percentages with Greenburgh's commercial property, these are the changes in value as of the July 1, 2015 valuation date:
Commercial Property / Vacant Land
40% decrease / 3% decrease
47% stayed the same / 59% stayed the same
12% increase/ 38% increase
Now lets compare these numbers with condominiums/coops:
14% decrease
82% stayed the same
3.4% increase
Accordingly, 96% of condo/coop owners experienced either no increase or a decrease in their assessments.
When you compare condominiums/coops with single family houses, the numbers are far worse for single family homeowners:
24% decrease
42% stayed the same
34% increase
In other words, 68% of single family homeowners received either no increase or a decrease in their assessments while over a third received an increase. Given that both classes of property are residential, and the purpose of the reassessment (which costs millions of dollars) is to create tax fairness, how is this discrepancy possible?
The answer is that condominiums and coops are not assessed at full value (as are single family homes). Instead assessments of these units are based on their value as rental units (something that could, in the case of condominiums be changed if the Town adopted the Homestead Option - which the Town Board elected not to do).
It follows that The Jefferson, a straight rental, if built, will generate property taxes at the lowest rate of residential assessment (and conversely, they, like condominium and coop owners, will be subsidized by the owners of single family homes, which in the case of the Rivertowns and most of Greenburgh, are the majority form of residential home ownership).
Readers are encouraged to look at the recent facebook or website posts of the Edgemont Community Council for specific examples of this property tax subsidy. edgemontecc.com
Moreover, unlike in Greenburgh, the Scarsdale Forum issued a study of the issue for its Village Board favoring the adoption of the Homestead Option. www.scarsdaleforum.com/reportsPublic.php (open link and scroll down to the Homestead Tax Report link).
However, the Village Board, after reviewing the Scarsdale Forum report and having at least two public hearings, ultimately decided not to adopt the option as it essentially targeted a handful of condominium owners and would only result in a $99 savings for single family homeowners.
In contrast, Greenburgh has thousands of cooperative and condominium units all of whom continue to enjoy the tax subsidy which is permitted under State law. It can only be changed if the Town adopts the Homestead Option (and again, this only applies to condominiums and not cooperatives).
Parenthetically, the availability of the Homestead Option proves that the distinction between condominiums (which are sold in arms lengths transactions where the price is public knowledge and thus available to the Assessor to determine their true market value) and single family homes (which are assessed on market value) is entirely artificial.
Even if the distinctions between condominiums and single family homes are factored in, the way to achieve tax fairness is to assess condominiums at some fraction of their market value and not at their potential rental income value.
The Jefferson site itself has an address of One Lawrence Street. However, when you plug in that address on the Tyler database, only two parcels appear (the owner, of course, being Azko Nobel)
| Results | Click rows to view property details | Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 |
Parcel ID▲
|
Property Address
|
Location
|
Owner
|
JUR
|
8.370-265-2
|
0 LAWRENCE ST
|
ARDSLEY
|
AKZO NOBEL CHEMICALS INC
|
5526
|
8.370-265-4
|
0 LAWRENCE ST
|
ARDSLEY
|
AKZO NOBEL CHEMICALS INC
|
5526
|
8.370-267-3
|
2 LAWRENCE ST
|
ARDSLEY
|
2 LAWRENCE PROPERTIES INC
|
5526
|
When you look at these two parcels, the first is listed as consisting of .70 acres (with an assessment of $35,000) and the second is listed as being 1.79 acres (with an assessment of 89,500).
What happened to the remaining eight (8) acres? This question will be posed to Tyler for a response.
In addition to the lower rate of assessment for rental properties, a notable point was made by one of the speakers at the second scoping session that if you permit the One Lawrence Street site to become completely residential, you forego the opportunity for at least half a century or more (the anticipated life cycle for The Jefferson buildings) for either industrial or commercial development on the site.
The chart below from the Town Assessor's section of the Town's website showing how to calculate an assessed value of a residential and commercial property in 2015. As the chart shows, in Greenburgh, commercial property is taxed at a higher rate (3.33%) than residential property (2.61%):
Property Class Assessed Value rate
Residential 16,500 2.61% = *
Commercial 125,000 3.33% = **
* $16,500 divided by 2.61% = $632, 183
**$125,000 divided by 3.33% = $3, 753, 753
However, a condominium in Greenburgh worth $632, 183 would have a tax assessment of nearly 50% less than a single family house with equal market value in the same Town!
Not only is the developer of The Jefferson enjoying being assessed at the lower Income Approach for its property (even though it is a luxury property with high end condominium features), but its tax rate will be at the lower residential rate than if the parcels were developed for commercial use.
As explained in prior posts about the Brownfield Cleanup Program, the developer will be getting a further tax subsidy of anywhere between 30 to 40% of its remediation and development costs from New York State taxpayers under New York State's highly controversial Brownfield Cleanup Progam.
As Marvin Gaye, in his 1965 hit song written by Smoky Robinson and the Miracles sang- Ain't That Peculiar? (kudos to Greenburgh's Hal Samis for the song tip).
In determining whether The Jefferson is a positive or negative for our community, it is increasingly clear that at nearly every level of analysis, The Jefferson is primarily good for the developer and a danger to the life, health, safety and quality of life of Greenburgh residents AND ITS TAXPAYERS.
