The club is attempting to cut its property taxes from $471,000 to $47,000, claiming that the entire property is only worth $1.4 million. Trump reportedly spent $45 million to rebuild the golf course and clubhouse in the 2000s, and the club is currently taxed based on a value of $13.5 million.
Donald Trump is working to slash local property taxes by 90% at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester, N.Y., USA Today reported.
If Trump accomplishes the feat, property taxes on the 140-acre complex on a Briarcliff Manor hilltop will plummet from $471,000 to $47,000, with the club’s neighbors picking up the $424,000 Trump would save. Trump would save the most in school taxes: The club’s bill would drop from $287,000 to $32,000, Today reported.
Trump National also pays taxes to the village of Briarcliff Manor, the town of Ossining, and Westchester County, Today reported.
“He’s going to pass the tax burden on to everybody else,” Ossining Receiver of Taxes Gloria Fried said. “And we still won’t get to play on his golf course.”
Former county Legislator Richard Wishnie of Briarcliff Manor said village homeowners are in no mood to pick up the sizable tax burden that Trump National wants to shed. “It makes no sense to me for any of us to subsidize a billionaire so he can enjoy even more profits at that property,” he said.
Trump National’s attorney Jeff Rodner claims the club’s 18-hole championship course, a 75,000-sq. ft. clubhouse with five overnight suites, and approval to build 71 condominiums overlooking the ninth-hole fairway in one of Westchester’s top school districts are all worth $1.4 million, Today reported.
The town of Ossining had valued the 140-acre property at $35 million after Trump spent a reported $45 million to rebuild the former Briar Hall course in the mid-2000s and construct its clubhouse. But in 2008, when the economic downturn soured Westchester real estate and cut discretionary spending, the town lowered the value by 55% after Trump’s legal team pleaded for relief. Today the club is taxed on a value of $13.5 million, Today reported.
Trump National’s claim that the property is now worth just $1.4 million appears in a June 16 assessment complaint filed by Rodner with the town of Ossining Board of Assessment Review. If the board fails to provide a big enough reduction, he can then file for relief in state Supreme Court. Rodner did not return several phone messages left by USA Today seeking comment.
Trump National General Manager Brian Lynch said he was unaware of the club’s campaign to lower its property taxes. “How do you go from a value of $13 million to $1.4 million?” wondered Lynch. “I wish I could help you. I’m brand new here. I haven’t gotten my arms around the whole situation yet.”
Ossining Assessor Fernando Gonzalez said there was no way to justify the claim that the Trump complex is worth just $1.4 million, Today reported.
“It offends anybody who knows anything about Ossining values,” Gonzalez said. “It’s like me claiming that my brand-new truck that cost $45,000 is worth only $4,500. It’s just ridiculous.”
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