ASSESSOR LEVINSON ASKS STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND COMPTROLLER NOT TO APPROVE TRUMP JONES BEACH PROJECT

Media Contact:  Randolph Yunker  (516) 571-2490

September 18, 2006

(Mineola, NY) Nassau County Board of Assessors Chairman Harvey Levinson today asked New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Comptroller Alan Hevesi to review a state deal that would exempt Donald Trump’s $40 million dollar catering facility at Jones Beach from school or county property taxes.

Last week, Assessor Levinson called the Trump deal into question when he learned that no payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement had been negotiated to help offset the loss of an estimated $1.4 million dollars in annual school property taxes that would be paid if the multi-million dollar for-profit enterprise were located off state land.

The private luxury catering facility does not serve any governmental use and the taxpayers should not be subsidizing a celebrity billionaire,” stated Assessor Levinson. “The practice of allowing for-profit entities to operate on public state land without paying property taxes must be stopped.”

Assessor Levinson went on to renew his call to legislators to amend state law to prevent the state from trading its exempt status at the expense of the local municipalities and school districts.