Guilderland CSD to refund $4.7M to Crossgates
GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A local school district has to refund some of the money it received in property taxes from Crossgates Mall. The case stems from property tax assessments made before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Guilderland Central School District recently reached an agreement with the owners of the mall and now has to pay just under $5 million dollars.
Property tax assessments calculate the value of a property and that determines the amount a property owner has to pay in taxes. Crossgates, and others, sought to change the assessed values from 2019, due to the 2020 pandemic shutdown.
Guilderland Central School District Superintendent Dr. Marie Wiles said they always knew that amount would change, they could see empty parking lots at the mall, but it was a question of how much and how significant of an impact it would have on the district. Last week that settlement was finalized at $4.75 million.
“We were obviously disappointed because we know that the impact was going to be significant for the school district,” said Wiles.
On Tuesday the board of education approved the process to bond just under $5 million, which will be paid back over the next 15 or so years.
“We did that so we wouldn’t have to absorb $5 million of reductions in our current budget, because that would profoundly impact our ability to deliver on our mission,” said Wiles.
She said spreading the hefty obligation over many years would allow them to shield current students from paying the price right now. Wiles said going forward they will have to build the cost associated with borrowing money into future operating budgets.
“Things can cut both ways and in this particular case, crossgates is a big draw to the guilderland area, but it was also one of those kinds of properties profoundly affected by the pandemic which none of us could’ve predicted,” said Wiles. “What could be seen as an asset to our community really turned out to be otherwise in the circumstance.”
The Town of Guilderland as well as Albany County also have to pay refunds to Crossgates. According to an Albany County official that amount has yet to be determined but they anticipate it will be over $1 million.