Yorktown Seeks Taxes for State-Owned Property in Town
The Town of Yorktown is looking for its fair share of property taxes for state-owned land within its borders.
Councilman Vishnu Patel crafted a resolution for the Town Board to adopt calling on state representatives to support a bill that would mandate the state pay local property taxes for land it owns in Westchester, including approximately 1,000 acres in Yorktown.
That property includes about 600 acres at FDR State Park and 154 acres in the French Hill section of Donald J. Trump State Park off Baldwin Road.
The resolution from Patel was received by the Town Clerk’s Office on February 6 and was intended to appear on the February 7 agenda, but it is now slated to be entertained by the Town Board on February 21.
Meanwhile, state Senator Terrence Murphy (R/Yorktown), who chairs the New York State Senate Committee on Investigations & Government Operations, is seeking clarification on what he maintained “appears to be a discriminatory policy regarding state-owned land.”
Murphy pointed out the Trump State Park land that is located in Putnam County is fully taxable in Putnam Valley but the portion in Yorktown is tax exempt. In fact, none of the estimated 5,000 acres of state-owned property in Westchester is taxed by a municipality.
“It is a prime example of an ‘unfunded mandate’ on the taxpayers in Yorktown and Westchester,” Murphy said. “The state’s ownership hurts the local tax base and drains services, and yet the benefits of the property are primarily enjoyed by people who live elsewhere. The Office of Real Property Tax Services must take a hard look at this inconsistent and potentially discriminatory policy.”
The bill in the Senate was introduced by Senator George Latimer (D/Rye), who announced last week he is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for Westchester County Executive.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
