Fiscal Management and Business Services
The Department of Fiscal Management is responsible for handling the District’s finances, which include the following functions: accounting, auditing, budgeting, cash management, food services and payroll. The Business Services Department is responsible for the District’s: employee benefits, insurance and records management.
Eklecco
The Clarkstown Central School District (CCSD), in collaboration with the Town of Clarkstown, this month resolved a long-running tax certiorari case filed by Eklecco NewCo LLC, the company which owns the Palisades Center in West Nyack, through a settlement agreement. The case involved a challenge by Eklecco over its property tax assessments from 2020 through 2023. In New York State Supreme Court, attorneys for the mall owner sought to reduce the property tax assessments for the retail center by millions of dollars, therefore reducing its tax liability and recovering any back taxes owed to the company.
The settlement recently reached between Eklecco, the Town of Clarkstown and CCSD reduces the mall's assessed value resulting in a tax refund of $27.5 million for previous years taxes paid to the owner, of which $18.15 million (66%) is the responsibility of our school district.
The settlement achieved the following:
- An assessment that is significantly higher than what Eklecco was seeking
- A tax refund that is significantly less than what Eklecco was seeking
While CCSD does not have authority to raise or lower property assessments, our district partnered with the Town of Clarkstown to fight the tax certiorari since it would have a significant impact on the school district and our taxpayers. Fortunately, over the years, the district's Department of Fiscal Management and Board of Education have set aside funding in a Tax Certiorari Reserve to help offset the impact of such settlements. This reserve will allow CCSD to avoid having to issue a bond resulting in the entire financial burden of the settlement to local residents.
We are confident this matter was settled in the best interest of our tax-paying residents.