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Kane receives bad rap from business owner |
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Written by Publisher
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009 |
Shedio Logging of Slippery Rock invested in Kane in 2006 when it
purchased the dilapidated Kane Handle plant property for $70,000.
But,
after losing the battle with local government officials over their bid
for a partial property tax exoneration for 2007, the owners wish they
had never made the deal.
“We’re sorry we even bought it,” Susan Shedio said Monday after learning that the Kane Borough Council is joining the McKean County Board of Commissioners and Kane School Board in rejecting the Shedio request for tax relief.
“We’re a business,” Shedio said. “There are so many other communities looking for business.”
She said “it’s sad” that the borough council, school board and county commissioners “won’t help us.”
“It seems like they’re pushing you away,” Shedio said. “We don’t think it’s fair.”
The Shedio family had plans to operate a small sawmill at the former Kane Handle site. Shedio now operates a sawmill in Slippery Rock.
Just five weeks ago, it appeared that Susan and John Shedio, the new owners of the vacant Kane Handle plant property, finally would be receiving a partial exoneration for 2007 taxes.
At a meeting Sept. 9, the borough council voted 5-1 to approve the partial exoneration.
Council President Howard Kane and Councilmen Jim Salvamoser, Mike Merry, Lowell Gillespie and Dennis Drost approved the proposed tax relief plan.
Councilman John Gentilman voted against the proposal. Councilwoman Janet Bard did not attend the meeting.
The Kane School Board had previously approved the partial exoneration.
Then came the county vote in late September.
The three county commissioners, which had visited the Shedio site earlier in the month, voted unanimously against the tax relief request.
This rejection threw a monkey wrench into the deal because both the school board and borough council had made their acceptance contingent on the approval of “all” three taxing bodies.
Despite the rejection by the county, Shedio Logging had hopes the school board and council still would give a partial exoneration on school and borough taxes.
“It is not necessary that all three taxing districts agree,” Shedio attorney Joe Marasco of Bradford said in a letter to the school board and council. “The school district and Kane borough may agree to partial exoneration in spite of the fact that the county has chosen not to.”
By virtue of its vote last week, the school board nullified its approval of the tax relief. The school board voted 4-2 with one abstention to approve the partial school tax exoneration. But five affirmative votes of the nine-member are needed on this type of action, school district attorney Chris Byham said. Two members of the school board were not present for the vote.
The borough council killed borough tax relief at its meeting Monday by declining to reconsider another motion on the issue. That means its Sept. 9 motion still stands. And the Sept. 9 motion makes borough approval contingent upon the agreement of “all taxing bodies.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” borough attorney Tony Alfieri told council during a discussion of the issue. He said the Sept. 9 motion is dead because the “conditions” for the approval “didn’t happen.”
John and Susan Shedio of Renfrew, Butler County, purchased the 14 ½-acre Kane Handle site from Ames True Temper in October 2006. They paid $70,000 for the property, including the vacant plant that had “seriously deteriorated” and was in “a state of disrepair,” according to a proposed exoneration agreement.
At the time of the purchase, the plant was on the county assessment books at $463,280. When they purchased the property, the Shedio family assumed the assessment would be lowered to their purchase price of $70,000 to reflect the true market value.
This adjustment, however, requires a formal appeal to the county Board of Assessment. Because the appeal was not filed within 45 days of the purchase, the assessment for the 2007 tax year remained at $463,280.
Marasco previously told council that “a breakdown in communication” led to the failure to file the assessment appeal within the 45-day window.
He pointed out that the Board of Assessment has since dropped the property assessment to $70,000 for 2008 and subsequent years. He also said the Shedio family is up-to-date on all taxes for 2008 and 2009 and even paid taxes for 2007—but only for a $70,000 assessment, not the $463,280 figure.
Because the 2007 tax bills with the higher assessment have not been paid in full, the property had been placed on the list for a tax sale last month in Smethport.
Marasco filed documents to have the property removed from this tax sale, but the site could wind up on the tax sale list again next year.
Kane Mayor Doug Caldwell said Monday that council approval of the proposed 2007 tax exoneration “might set a precedent” for future real estate transactions. The county commissioners and school board members Gary Ziegler, Dave Westerburg and Harry Steele expressed similar concerns in their votes against the tax relief request.
There is speculation that the Shedio family now could try to sell its Kane property or simply “walk away” rather than pay about $15,000 in additional 2007 taxes based on the former $463,280 assessment.
But Kane Councilman Gentilman apparently believes that Shedio eventually will pay the additional 2007 taxes.
“He’ll pay it,” Gentilman predicted Monday.
Susan Shedio, however, left room for doubt when she said she is “not quite sure” what action her family will take in view of the rejection of the request for tax exoneration.
“We’re sitting back and thinking,” she said. “We’re all very disappointed. We’ve had no help out there. That’s the sad part.
“How can Kane say they want business when they treat you like this?”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 29 October 2009 )
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