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CityREVIEW NewRochelle February 3, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 4 | www.cityreviewnr.com
Latimer bill would allow county to tax state land By FRANCO FINO Staff Writer
Center of attention
A two-day gun show at the Westchester County Center was embroiled in further controversy after pictures of pro-Nazi books and Confederate flags surfaced. The Review was also denied access to the weekend event in White Plains. For story, see page 6. File photo
Gov. Cuomo touts transparency law expansion By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer As part of an ethics reform overhaul, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced that he would look to increase transparency in the state Legislature during his State of the State tour earlier this month. The governor’s initiative seeks to make state lawmakers— as well as the state’s ethics commission—subject to the Freedom of Information Law, FOIL. “It protects the public,” Cuomo said, “and it protects the government official from anyone saying he or
she did anything wrong.” State FOIL laws allow the public to request access to documents and statistics kept by government agencies, with certain exceptions such as classified documents. Currently, the general New York state FOIL laws apply only to state agencies, which do not include the Legislature or the courts. A specific section of the law applies to state lawmakers; but that section does not require that lawmakers make documents such as emails available to the public. Assemblyman David Buch-
wald, a White Plains Democrat who has championed the FOIL laws, questioned Cuomo’s assertion that FOIL laws don’t apply to state lawmakers. “FOIL does apply to the state Legislature,” he said. “It just applies in a somewhat different way because most of our actions are already made available to the public.” Buchwald added that he was open to any laws that would increase transparency. In November, the governor signed an amendment to the FOIL law sponsored by Buchwald which he had shot down the previous year, shortening the
appeals process. State Sen. George Latimer, a Rye Democrat who has also pushed for transparency laws, said he would welcome an expansion of FOIL to encompass state lawmakers, and reflected on his previous experience as an elected official on the Rye City Council and the Westchester County Board of Legislators. “I was under the rules of FOIL in those days and I never felt that that was a problem,” Latimer said. “We’re not at the level of dealing with national secrets.” CONTACT: corey@hometwn.com
State Sen. George Latimer has introduced a bill that would authorize Westchester County to collect taxes from certain state lands in its region. Latimer, a Rye Democrat, told the Review that he proposed the bill in hopes that the county would be granted the same authority as Rockland and Putnam counties, for which the state has paid property taxes to for several years. “I think Westchester should have the same deal as Rockland and Putnam,” he said. “It’s a matter of fairness.” Rockland was granted the ability to tax state land in the mid-90s under former Gov. George Pataki, a Republican; Putnam’s ability to tax went into effect in 2007. The bill would ultimately amend the real property tax law and would grant Westchester the ability to tax state-held land. However, it would not allow the county to tax buildings erected on state property. According to Latimer, his proposed legislation came as a result of discovering the state’s unusual system of taxing its public land, which is typically exempt from taxes in other states. County Legislator David Gelfarb, a Rye Brook Republican, said the desirability of the bill, which Latimer submitted last November at the end of the 2016 legislative session and again this month for the 2017 session, is its potential to provide an additional revenue stream for the county and local municipalities that contain state-held land. “If this is allowed in other counties, there’s certainly no reason to
treat Westchester unfairly,” Gelfarb said. “We need that revenue source to provide basic municipal services for residents and taxpayers.” While there is currently no estimate for any number of projected revenue Westchester could gain as a result of a change in the law, according to Latimer, research is being conducted by the several municipalities, including the assessor’s office in the town of Bedford, which is among the communities in the county where there is state land. The Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, a state-owned prison, is located in Bedford, and is encompassed in the 7,000 acres of state-held land in the county. Other notable state-held properties include the Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park and the Donald J. Trump State Park in the town of Yorktown, and the Rockefeller State Preserve in the town of Mount Pleasant. While he is optimistic about the support for the bill, Latimer said there is still the issue of the other 59 counties in the state that might seek to receive the same “fair treatment.” He added that he hopes his proposal will spark a conversation about granting other counties the ability to tax state land as well; however, at the very least, he hopes Westchester will be authorized. The bill is currently awaiting approval by a state Senate committee, as of press time. County Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, could not be reached for comment. CONTACT: franco@hometwn.com