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North Elba settles tax challenge, but refuses refund

LAKE PLACID — The town of North Elba has settled a property assessment challenge, but will issue no refund to a Main Street business that claimed its assessment was inflated by nearly 900%.

The owners of the Smoke Signals building at 2489 Main St., who operate as 89 JPS LLC, challenged the town’s $2,484,000 total assessment of their property. They claimed the value of their property was $248,600.

Town Attorney Ron Briggs said the town has agreed to settle the case, dropping the assessment to $2.2 million for the next three years, but will not be issuing a refund of taxes paid. After 2023, the town will be able to reevaluate the assessment.

The practice of property owners challenging the assessed value of their parcels, sometimes in hopes of either receiving a tax refund or decreasing the amount of taxes they pay in the future, is common.

“Challenges happen every year,” Briggs said. “We probably have eight or nine cases pending now.”

Town Supervisor Roby Politi, who presided over his final meeting Tuesday, cautioned the two new town councilors — Emily Politi and Richard Cummings — to stay the course in how the town handles these challenges.

He said the decisions made by the town on these cases can impact the Lake Placid Central School District and the village of Lake Placid, too. When the town agrees to issue a refund based on the reassessed value of a property, depending on where it’s located, the town may not be the only entity required to issue a tax refund. The school district and village may also have to issue tax refunds, which would impact their budgets, and may require them to draw from their reserves.

“It’s important you try to resolve them without any refunds,” Politi said. “It’s in the best interest of the community.”

The town council voted unanimously to allow Briggs to sign the consent agreement with Smoke Signals’ owners at their regular meeting Tuesday. The owners of Smoke Signals could not be reached by deadline Thursday.

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