O’side schools suing LIPA and County

The Oceanside School District is suing Nassau County and the Long Island Power Authority after PSEG did not pay its full tax levy after an agreement that allowed the utility to make partial payments.

School board officials voted to start the legal action at Jan. 19 Board of Education meeting but they did not disclose the nature of it despite repeated requests to do so. Superintendent Phyllis Harrington said the district did not have explicit permission from their attorney to discuss the lawsuit and they “erred on the side of caution.”

Late last year, Nassau County allowed LIPA to remove its properties from the 2015-16 tax rolls and to make Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) instead. The county is responsible for distributing the funds to municipalities.

According to Harrington, the district is owed nearly $2.2 million from PSEG from eight parcels of land in the district. “That would be a huge shortfall that we can’t function without,” she said. “We must get this amount that we feel very much entitled to. It has to be resolved so that we’re in not in this situation in subsequent years, which would adversely affect our local taxpayers.”

Other school districts, including Rockville Centre and Island Park, are also suing LIPA, citing similar concerns about a burden on taxpayers.

“This action has resulted in the unilateral reduction of the district’s 2015/2016 authorized tax levy,” the Oceanside School District said in a statement. “Further, the County has indicated that LIPA’s PILOT payments may not be sufficient to satisfy the district’s tax levy and has announced that those PILOTs will not be guaranteed by the County under the County Guaranty. The County and LIPA’s actions will also adversely impact the district and its taxpayers by reducing the overall tax base and thus shifting the burden of future tax increases, as well as any future LIPA PILOT shortfalls, onto other property owners.”