WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. May 3, 2005: Eyde McCarthy, City Assessor, kept her rendezvous with the Board of Education Monday evening, and assured them the PILOTS (Payments In Lieu of Taxes) now being paid the city by properties developed since 2000  were $7,000,000 as opposed to $3,000,000 that the same properties  were paying in taxes before they were developed under PILOT agreements.

MEETING OF THE FINANCIAL MINDS: Eyde McCarthy, City Assessor, meets with the White Plains Board of Education Monday evening. Photo by WPCNR News

She said she did not have a figure on what liabilities in possible certioraris the Board of Education could expect, but staunchly stated that Mark Scharf, of Slaw & Perelson,  the attorney who represents the Board of Education, works very closely with her and could be relied upon for accurate numbers in expected certioraris. "Mr. Scharf consults closely every step of everything the city does," Ms. McCarthy said. "He's with us every step of the way. If there's something major, we'll call (Mr. Scharf)."

 Mr. Scharf has estimated refunds the school district should be prepared to pay as being from $5 million to $8 million in 2004-05, and this evening Donna McLaughlin said the figure was $10 Million.

Ms. McCarthy said some 300 certioraris proceedings are now in process with the city of some 8,000 commercial properties. She said it was not possible to put a dollar amount on what the city would settle them for because it was up to the judge, Thomas Dickenson of the Certiorari Division of the New York State Supreme Court to adjudicate the actual awards. She pointed out that the organization filing the certiorari puts forth a high figure and then arguments are made to lower that refund requested and the judge weighs both arguments before making a decision.

Certioraris Erode the Development Gain

She did not subtract what the school district was losing in certioraris this year from the PILOT "windfall."  WPCNR notes that when you figure that amount of certiorari payments, $5.8 Million, the School District "profit" from the PILOTS is approximately $2.2 Million. Whatever gain from the PILOTs is being eroded by certiorari givebacks. 

Ms. McCarthy did not bring a long term perspective on what revenues the PILOT-producing properties could be expected to supply beyond next year, but said she could develop that and would develop a spread sheet for the district on those numbers. The School District has requested this from the city for five months.

Ms. McCarthy blamed the long decline in city assessments to the equalization rate that computes housing assessibles as being higher than commercial properties, resulting in commercial property assessments being lowered proportionately.  

Special Franchise Assessments A Villain?

Ms. McCarthy said the city has lost "a significant portion of assessibles" due to Special Franchise reassessments. This occurs, she said, because the state sets depreciation rates on public utilities, lowering the value of the public utility infrastructure, but did not name a figure as to how much the city has lost. 

Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel, has supplied this figure, though in a chart she showed the Comprehensive Plan Committee, two weeks ago, pegging the figure at  $3,069,294 in 2004-2005 (a 24% decline in assessment of utility Special Franchises in the city in one year). However, from 1995/96 to 2003/04 (the last nine years)  the city lost a total of  $3,657,613 in Special Franchise Assessibles according to Ms. Habel's chart, lowering the assessment of Special Franchises from $13,305,392 to $9,647,779 in 2004-05, a decline of 27% in nine years, or an average of 3% a year.

During the same time period, overall city assessibles of commercial and residential properties declined 15% from $359,117,859 in 1994-95 to $304,680,309 at the close of 2004-05.

Condo Tidbits.

An interesting revelation on the condominium market came from realtor Nick Wolff, of Century 21, who volunteered that the Cappelli Trump Tower condominiums were not sold out as previously reported and declared by the Cappelli organization for about the last two months. Wolff said there were 12 units up for sale in Trump Tower. Three penthouse units in the Trump Tower are currently being advertised by their owners, WPCNR has learned.

 It also was reported by Ms. McCarthy that condominium sales are taxed at 40 to 60% less than residential homes. She pointed out that a million dollar house would likely pay $20,000 in property taxes while a million dollar condominium would pay $10,000.