I.P. schools get half of perceived PILOT

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Island Park school district received an unpleasant surprise when it discovered that the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) monies it will receive from Bayview Nursing Home is half of what was originally thought.

In the school district’s original calculations, Bayview would pay the school district $173,082. However, this money will actually be distributed among the village of Island Park, the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County and the Island Park library — in addition to the school district.

As a result, the schools will receive only $90,393 from Bayview for the 2015-2016 school year, and the difference will be offset with fund balance. The nursing home is the district’s only PILOT payee.

School Business Official Marie Donnelly explained at the March 9 budget meeting that the portion of PILOT that the school district received was subject to change from year to year.

“We can’t project what our share is going to be,” Donnelly said. “It’s going to change [based on] taxes assessed for each of the municipalities.”

PILOT is included in the state formula to determine the maximum allowed tax levy increase for a simple-majority approval. The recalculated tax levy is $624 less than the original limit. The district had already announced would the tax levy increase by $649,621, which is well within the limit.

Bayview reopened this past summer after a post-Superstorm Sandy renovation. Under the current agreement, its PILOT will increase to $198,817 by 2026. In the school district’s calculations, Bayview would pay $6,683 more to the school district and municipalities in the 15-16 year if it paid taxes instead of PILOT.

“Going forward we don’t really know what our percentage is going to be so we can’t extrapolate over the next 10 years — how much money we’ll be getting or losing,” said Superintendent Rosmarie Bovino. “Overall you know you’re going to end up with less money than you would if the property were at the same tax rate as commercial property or however it’s classified.”

Bovino was also concerned that other developers, such as the condo project on the former site of Paddy McGee’s and the Barrett Power Plant would receive similar PILOTs, which would put more financial pressure on homeowners.

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