The Palisades Center filed a challenge to its Town of Clarkstown and Clarkstown School District property tax assessments for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 in Rockland County Supreme Court. The non-jury trial on the tax certiorari is scheduled to begin on Monday, May 14 before Judge Margaret Garvey.
The 42 parcels that make up the shopping center in West Nyack had an assessed value of $252,958,700 for each of the three years.
Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack said he believes the town assessor’s valuations of the property were accurate.
“We have a lot of confidence in Cathy Conklin’s assessment record,” he said.
Gromack said the town and school district have a joint fund to pay for the legal representation. Special Counsel Kaye Scholer LLP of New York City has been retained to handle the tax cert case. Gromack said the firm was hired because of its expertise in large mall cases and represented the town and school district in a prior challenge eight years ago in which the mall’s tax grievance was denied.
The law firm of Gilberti Stinziano Heint & Smith PC of Syracuse represents the mall. The four-level mall has 2.2 million square feet of gross leasable area. Eklecco Newco LLC owns the Palisades Center.
Further, you're reacting to a temporary situation of the trees being taken down for piping/roadwork as if those few blocks have destroyed the entire mile+ street, ignoring the beautification work in New City that started at the *other* end of the main strip. Have you see any of the work happening from the courthouse/park area that's working southward? This work has not reached the funeral home end to begin addressing how that intersection will be redone, either. It seems you're just being cranky without offering anything productive, which is merely a waste of anyone's time. As for your conspiracies (clowntown? Do you even live here?) I actually lived in Ridgewood for years and now reside in Clarkstown, so you're bluffing the wrong commenter. Westwood and Englewood downtown areas also have rather different histories, building styles and even surrounding income levels compared to New City, so again you are comparing apples to oranges and not making much sense to me. Is New City meeting the needs of locals and nearby residents and how does it's in-process development potentially improve that outlook? That's the question to ask, rather than merely whining.
and paul....without cash registers how can the state legally"know" how much sales tax is being collected????????????so paul you would allow store owners to avoid collecting taxes? amazing!!!!!but you are way off baseony our retail deductions you have no clue
BTW, cash registers have never been a requirement for retail businesses paying taxes - is this your way of knee-jerk defending the top 1% who "own" Palisades Mall? http://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/tg_bulletins/st/record-keeping_requirements_for_sales_tax_vendors.htm
I don't know where you are getting your information from but you should try and apply for a county job. See how much those positions pay! Just who do you think is making all this money? I know our police and law enforcement make a good living - but they deserve it. We are always listed as one of the safest places to live. Do you think the police will do the job they are doing for sub-par wages? I doubt it. As for your last comment, I don't even know where to begin! I am not saying not to use cash registers. ALL businesses use cash registers. BUT, if you are a tenant of the mall you are forced to use one of THEIR cash registers so THEY can monitor your sales. I am certainly not saying that businesses should not collect sales tax or that the State should not know how much they are taking in as sales tax. How do other businesses report sales tax? They have accountants to do that, not some real estate management company looking to make more money. Sir/Madam - you are the one without a clue. Base your accusations on fact and not fantasy.
Most just want to run to Jersey where the gas is cheaper, the roads are nicer & the taxes are less on anything you buy. Such a shame & wish we had a more proactive chamber of commerce who instead of playing politician would really look out for the interests of the local businesses. And that doesn't mean having open air markets with out of town businesses. It further erodes our business community.
You missed my point on "they are working on it" - they are working on reparing and fixing Main Street. My question to you is: How do you cut spending? Who is going to suffer? Maybe you don't have kids and you don't care if the schools turn to you know what. But I do have kids and I do care about our schools. I don't claim to know what the solution is but I do know what it isn't.