Oswego, NY -- The Oswego school board is going to court seeking more property tax money from Constellation Energy Nuclear Group for the Nine Mile Point I nuclear plant. It filed a lawsuit last month against Oswego County, the town of Scriba, its assessors and board of assessment review and Constellation. Oswego County has requested a change of venue for...
Oswego, NY -- The Oswego school board is going to court seeking more property tax money from Constellation Energy Nuclear Group for the Nine Mile Point I nuclear plant.
It filed a lawsuit last month against Oswego County, the town of Scriba, its assessors and board of assessment review and Constellation. Oswego County has requested a change of venue for the court proceedings. The first court date is Oct. 12.
Paul Sheppard, a Binghamton lawyer, filed the suit on behalf of the district in state Supreme Court in Onondaga County.
Oswego County Attorney Richard Mitchell looks to move the proceedings to Oswego County for convenience of all parties concerned and, his motion says, because law requires a trial involving Oswego County to be held there.
In its suit, the district calls for the court to set aside the town’s $280 million assessment on Nine Mile I.
It also asks for the tax deal reached between Constellation and the county and Scriba declared unenforceable.
And it wants the town, county, assessor and board of assessment review prohibited from entering into what is calls illegal tax agreements detrimental to the school district.
The school district also states in the lawsuit it wants the assessment of $600 million restored for the Nine Mile Point I plant.
Mitchell and Jill Lyon, speaking for Constellation, would not comment on the pending lawsuit.
The school board hired Sheppard in July to litigate the case.
School district, town and county officials negotiated with Constellation for months to reach a one-year tax deal on the nuclear plant. The 10-year payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, agreement expires in December.
The county, town and school district were to approve the deal for it to take effect. The county and town did — the school district didn’t.
The county and town then agreed to stand by it’s the agreement with Constellation. The Scriba board of assessment review set an assessment on the plant of $280 million, upon which a proposed tax payment to the school district was based. The district was to receive about $6 million for 2010-11, about $4 million more than it received in the PILOT for 2009-10.
The tax agreement nearly tripled the total amount of property taxes the company would pay.
But the school district believes the plant assessment should be $600 million, the value set by George Sansoucy LLC, of New Hampshire, a firm that specializes in appraising nuclear plants. Constellation filed a grievance with the town of Scriba concerning the $600 million assessment to protect the company’s legal rights if Scriba, Oswego County and the Oswego school district voted down the one-year tax agreement.
Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com, 470-3254 or 251-5586