“We had no choice but to give this up,” said Alderman Moti Sandman, as city legislators approved a $184,761 tax refund for land occupied by a politically connected trucking company.
At their full board meeting Monday, aldermen agreed unanimously to issue the first installment of a $480,903 tax break for CSX Transportation. The refund coversthree properties on Middletown Avenue that CSX leases to the Anastasio family.
The refund comes under a state law that holds that railroads, which pay gross receipts to the state and federal government, cannot be taxed by the city as long as the business is being used “exclusively for railroad purposes.” (Click here and here for previous stories.)
A settlement was approved in February by the Litigation Settlement Committee, with Alderwoman Arlene DePino abstaining and Alderman Jorge Perez, who first raised a red flag over the issue, voting against.
By the time the matter came to the full Board of Aldermen, a settlement had been signed by the mayor, so aldermen felt they had no choice but to say “aye.”
They did take one proactive step: They voted to hire outside counsel to take a second look at the issue and see if the city should be issuing such tax breaks in the future.