Syracuse, NY -- A deal that would provide temporary classrooms for 1,500 Syracuse pupils at the former Syracuse Developmental Center depends on the owners paying $1,325,000 in back taxes, city councilors said Wednesday. The administration of Mayor Stephanie Miner is demanding documents that would stipulate payment of the full amount, despite the owners attempts to negotiate a settlement. “Without those...
Syracuse, NY -- A deal that would provide temporary classrooms for 1,500 Syracuse pupils at the former Syracuse Developmental Center depends on the owners paying $1,325,000 in back taxes, city councilors said Wednesday.
The administration of Mayor Stephanie Miner is demanding documents that would stipulate payment of the full amount, despite the owners attempts to negotiate a settlement. “Without those stipulations, I don’t believe it will pass this board,” Councilor Lance Denno said Wednesday at council’s study session.
In a 5-4 vote April 26, council gave tentative approval of the lease. Council is set to vote on final approval Monday.
Schools Superintendent Dan Lowengard has been urging the council to approve the $28.2 million lease so renovations can begin in early 2011 on H.W. Smith K-8 and Dr. Weeks Elementary schools. The lease would last 15 years and provide swing space during a citywide schools renovation program that has been in the planning stages for more than four years. State aid would cover about 94 percent of the lease, Lowengard said.
The owners, however, are threatening to abandon the sale if the city doesn’t drop its tax bill to $1 million. Long Island-based Syracuse Resort Development, Inc., has never paid property taxes and has ongoing lawsuits over its assessed value. It has agreed to drop those lawsuits if the proposed sale closes. The prospective buyers, Health Consortium-USA, have agreed to pay upfront for $13 million in site renovations and rent the space to the district at a cut rate.
Councilor Nader Maroun, who supports the lease, said Wednesday that councilors’ mistrust of Lowengard presents the biggest stumbling block to approval of the deal.
If the deal fails, the city would need to find alternate spaces for pupils at Smith and Weeks or significantly reduce and delay renovations.
Councilors have criticized a proposed alternative presented by the school district. It involved beginning renovations at Blodgett pre-K-8 school, which had been off the table, next year and delaying work at Smith and Weeks. “It is unbelievable that this is a Plan B,” Councilor Bill Ryan said, calling Lowengard’s alternative a demonstration of “unmitigated gall.”
Meghan Rubado can be reached at mrubado@syracuse.com or 470-3260.