Riverhead Town property owners in the Shoreham-Wading River School District and Wading River Fire District will receive property tax refunds of overpayments they made due to an incorrect assessment of the Shoreham power plant by the Town of Brookhaven.
As a result of Brookhaven's assessment error, the Long Island Power Authority paid less property taxes than it should have on the Shoreham plant, County Legislator Ed Romaine announced in a news release issued Friday afternoon.
The error has been corrected and LIPA has agreed to pay the full amount owed, reducing taxes for other property owners in the two districts, Romaine said.
For Riverhead property owners in the Shoreham-Wading River School District, the school tax portion of tax bills will be reduced by approximately 2.6 percent, according to the county legislator. For taxpayers in the Wading River Fire District, the fire tax portion of tax bills will also be reduced by approximately 2.6 percent.
If a property owner has already paid taxes in full, he or she will receive a refund check for the overpayment. If only the first half of taxes has been paid, the second half taxes will be reduced by the amount overpaid. If property taxes are paid through a mortgage escrow account, the Town of Riverhead will send lending institutions an adjusted tax bill for the second half of the year, according to the release.
“I appreciate the Town of Brookhaven correcting the error expeditiously and LIPA for its willingness to pay the additional taxes owed,” Romaine said. “In these tough economic times, it is often difficult to make ends meet. Everyone is trying to do more with less and each dollar back in taxpayers’ pockets helps ease the burden.”
The assessment error affected Brookhaven taxpayers also, because both the school district and fire district straddle town lines, Romaine said. A resolution of the legislature was needed to authorize the refunds to Riverhead property owners. Romaine and County Executive Steve Bellone sponsored the resolution.
For specific questions regarding refund amounts or how they will be applied, Romaine directed property owners to the Riverhead Tax Receiver at (631) 727-3200 Ext. 247 or Assessors’ office at Ext. 259.