Village releases some installment tax plans
-- others remain secret
By TOM RUE
MONTICELLO - Delinquent village taxpayers in Monticello now have the option of financing installment payment plans, to help get them out of debt, officials announced. Interim manager George Panchyshyn said the first eight payment agreements approved after a November 4 executive session were negotiated by treasurer Robin Seward.
On November 18, an additional batch of five plans were reportedly approved.
Financed amounts range from a low of $600, plus interest and penalties; to an undisclosed high figure which one source placed in the neighborhood of $40,000. Village officials released copies of the installment plans for seven taxpayers, but denied a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for the remaining two, including the largest. The terms of the undisclosed agreements could not be confirmed by press-time.
Village clerk Edith Schop, who released copies of most of the plans, said she was specifically told by village attorney Michael Davidoff to deny requests for the installment plans for taxpayers Pat Croissant of Swinging Bridge and Peter Shala of Monticello.
Schop said her denial of the two documents could be appealed to Panchyshyn, who refused to release the documents without Davidoff's okay. Davidoff was said to be in Albany, and was unavailable for comment.
Croissant's taxes are for Annie O'Shea's Restaurant on Broadway, Monticello, which formerly did business under the name Scalawag's. Business has suffered in recent years, according to public statements by Croissant her husband, William. Minutes show Croissant in arrears for taxes since 1993. One knowledgeable source said three years is the point at which property is ordinarily taken by the village in foreclosure proceedings.
Schop and Panchyshyn both said Davidoff ordered them not to release Croissant's and Shala's agreements, allegedly because the taxpayers had not signed them. But the plans were approved at a November 4 village board meeting, placing them in the public record, a statewide expert on open government at the Department of State said.
Names of the taxpayers, and years they are behind, are published in the minutes of the board meeting. Amounts due and terms of payment are shown only the agreements.
Robert Freeman, executive director of the NYS Committee on Open Government in Albany, who was sent a copy of the appeal letter to Panchyshyn, said Croissant's and Shala's agreements should have been released in response to the initial FOIL request. "They're public, whether they've been approved or not," he said.
Told of Freeman's advice, Panchyshyn reiterated that the agreements are not binding until signed by both sides. "That's not the issue," Freeman stated. "I just don't see any basis for withholding. There would be no possible impairment of contract negotiations because they're already approved. It's not intra-agency. There isn't anything left," Freeman said.
The village's denial letter did not cite an exemption in the law for withholding, despite a request in the original letter such, should any part of the request were denied. Schop said she was unsure if any exemption covered withholding the documents.
The first taxpayers to take advantage of the opportunity for refinancing included: Pat Croissant, undisclosed; Claudia Chandler, $3300; Ugene Diamond, $11,000; Yvonne Gordon, $600; Harriet Kaufman, $3200; Saul Levinson, $4000; Kim Magnetico, $2000; and Peter Shala, undisclosed. Interest and penalties will reportedly be added, though terms of the other undisclosed agreements remain unconfirmed.
On November 18, Schop said, financing plans were approved by the board for John Anthony, Tyrone Baker, Carolyn Brown, Karen Comfort, and John Komatz.
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