Quaker Ridge Golf Club to Receive Large Tax Refund

Quaker Ridge Golf Club will receive a tax refund of more than a half a million dollars from the Scarsdale School District as a result of a certiorari settlement that was finalized on November 18, 2013. The golf club contested their assessment from the years 2007 to 2013 and the N.Y.S. Supreme Court ordered the district to refund the club $519,698 as a result of a change in the capitalization formula that was used to compute assessments for golf courses. In a similar case on Long Island the assessment for the Hempstead Country Club was determined to be almost half of the value on which it was taxed for the years 2006 through 2009. This new capitalization formula was applied to the Quaker Ridge Golf Club and substantially reduced the club's assessment for 2007 through 2013.

Though the Scarsdale School district holds funds in reserve for tax certiorari, their estimate for the Quaker Ridge Golf Club case was only $136,838, leaving a budget shortfall of $308,000. When the district learned about the settlement in November 2013, it was too late to adjust the reserve fund which was finalized in June, 2013.

A resolution regarding the settlement was included in the agenda for the January 10, 2014 meeting for the Scarsdale Board of Education. Payment to the club will be taken from the district's general fund. Purvis told Scarsdale10583 that in some cases if the district needs to raise taxes to cover the expense of a legal settlement, the expense is exempt from the tax-cap calculation. However, in this case it is not.

In a discussion of district reserve funds at the January 27 meeting of the Scarsdale Board of Education, Board member Bill Natbony asked if there would be any further ramifications from this case. Will other golf courses follow suit and file for tax refunds? That is yet to be seen.