Politics on the Hudson

You might call it a tiki tax.

Westchester County is gearing up to sue the City of Rye in state Supreme Court over its taxing of property at Playland Amusement Park.

At issue is Rye’s adding the Pier Restaurant and Tiki Bar, a private business that sits on county parkland along the boardwalk, to its assessment role in an effort to collect $29,258 in property taxes.

“This is a park. You can’t tax the park,” said Ned McCormack, County Executive Rob Astorino’s senior adviser. “You can’t pick out pieces and tax it. Whether there’s any money-changing activities that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a park.”

In going to court, the county is simply defending its rights, he said.

Earlier this year, Rye assessed the property at $33,600, which translates into a $1.5 million market value, and last month denied county’s exemption on the grounds that it was “private commercial use as a stand alone bar restaurant.”

Although this dispute is over a specific site, the concern among lawmakers  is that other municipalities would follow suit and assess taxes on restaurants, vendors and other money-making operations at county parks, golf courses and facilities.

Two committees of the Westchester County Board of Legislators on Tuesday authorized a legal challenge, but the full board must authorize any legal action — and they must do so by an Oct. 15 deadline.

Although the county already pays a sewer tax, if it didn’t take legal action, it would be responsible for paying $17,045 to schools, $4,733 to itself, $5,270 to the city and several thousand to sewer, refuse and water districts.

But it’s more likely the county would pass on the cost to the business.

As part of the restaurant’s agreement with the county, it pays a $30,000 licensing fee and another 5 percent of its proceeds, which lawmakers said was upwards of $100,000.

While the issue raises many challenging policy questions over parkland and public private partnerships,  suing the city is the crux of the problem for Legislator Judy Myers, a Democrat whose district includes Rye.

“The idea of a county suing one of its municipalities is, I find, very disturbing,” she said.

Myers said it was also strange that the Astorino administration would say that it wouldn’t sue municipalities over affordable housing and then go ahead and sue one on behalf of a business.

Earlier this year, Rye declared other properties, notably Seaside Johnnies in Rye Town Park, as private businesses that shouldn’t remain tax-free.

Neither City Assessor Noreen Whitty nor City Manager Scott Pickup would  comment because of the pending litigation.

But when the issue came before the Board of Assessment Review, Whitty said the Tiki Bar was no different than any other private  business.

That’s a premise that many lawmakers disagree with.

“This restaurant is part of the park and therefore exempt,” said Legislator Martin Rogowsky, D-Harrison. “In my opinion, it would set a bad precedent. We need to defend county taxpayers.”

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