Legislators talk taxes

Island Park residents had an opportunity to question their Nassau County representatives about taxes and decisions they have made at a Civic Association meeting on Feb. 8.

Legislators Denise Ford (R-Long Beach) and Howard Kopel (R-Five Towns), along with Town of Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Donald Clavin, came to the meeting to address residents’ concerns about the repeal of the county guarantee to pay tax certiorari refunds and the almost certain possibility that the Long Island Power Authority will challenge the county’s assessment of the Barrett Power Plant in Island Park.

In October, the County Legislature voted to repeal the county guarantee, under which the county covers the full amount of certiorari refunds even though it does not receive all the money from taxes.

“Because of the county guarantee, school districts such as [Island Park] … actually wind up subsidizing richer areas of the county,” Kopel said. He explained that when the county pays back certioraris, the money comes from all the taxes the county has collected, not just money from the area where a certiorari is filed. So if a golf course on the North Shore gets a certiorari, he said, some of the money comes from people in Island Park.

“The taxes should be raised and paid where the money is used,” Kopel said. “It’s as simple as that.”

While many of the 20 or so residents who attended the meeting agreed, they expressed concerns about the implications of school districts’ being required to reimburse certioraris in light of LIPA’s likely challenge of the Barrett plant assessment.

Residents said they were worried that they could get stuck with the bill for LIPA’s tax refund if the authority keeps trying to get the plant’s assessment reduced. As it stands now, the Barrett plant represents about 40 percent of the Island Park School District’s tax base — about $11.25 million for the current budget year. Any reduction in the plant’s assessment would mean a reduction in the taxes LIPA pays — and a steep increase for residents.

Ford told residents she was working on setting up a meeting with LIPA representatives, along with State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg and State Sen. Dean Skelos, both of whom represent Island Park, to see if a state law could be passed that would limit the amount the assessments could be lowered in a year, to help ease the potential burden on Island Park residents.

But what the outcome of that meeting would be — and when it would take place — were unclear.

“Would I like [LIPA] to stop and not grieve it and not impact here? I’d love it,” said Ford. “But guess what? We cannot necessarily stop them.”