Flanagan And Englebright Fight To Protect Three Village And Smithtown School Property Taxpayers

Senator John Flanagan (2nd Senate District) and Assemblyman Steven Englebright (4th Assembly District) announced the passage of legislation that would protect the financial interests of residents surrounding Stony Brook University. The legislation sponsored by the two lawmakers would provide approximately $210,000 in state tax payments annually to the Three Village and Smithtown school districts to replace the lost tax revenue resulting from the acquisition of the Gyrodyne property.

Due to the fact that state entities are exempt from real property taxes, the university's acquisition of the 246 acre property owned by the Gyrodyne Corporation of America removed a significant parcel of land from the tax rolls of the two school districts. This would have resulted in a corresponding loss of tax revenue without any legislative action.

The recently passed legislation would continue the taxation of the property by requiring the State of New York to pay the taxes to ensure that the revenues of both school districts are protected. This taxation would only encompass the school portion of the taxes owed on the property.

For residents of the Smithtown School District, this would mean property tax relief of approximately $84,000.

For residents of the Three Village School District, the legislation would provide protection of approximately $125,000 in property tax relief.

The legislation still requires the approval of the Governor and would take effect immediately. Upon approval, the tax payments to the individual school districts would become permanent.

"This legislation recognizes that our community is terribly overburdened with high property taxes and that our state has a responsibility to not further burden our financially-strapped school districts," said Assemblyman Englebright. "Now we need to let the Governor know how important this legislation is to us and that we need him to sign it into law."

"The state must protect the rights of Long Island property taxpayers when a state entity acquires taxable land within a school district. These restorations would replace the lost revenue so that the homeowners and the students of these two districts are held harmless. This is common sense legislation and I urge the Governor to sign it into law," stated Senator Flanagan.