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Albany County committee cancels $354.50 in unenforceable taxes on church property
Summary
The Audit and Finance Committee approved a resolution to cancel $354.50 in unenforceable taxes levied on 562 Clinton Ave, a long-standing religious institution, citing a clerical exemption error outside the three-year correction window.
The Albany County Audit and Finance Committee voted unanimously to adopt a resolution canceling unenforceable taxes totaling $354.50 levied against 562 Clinton Ave, a religious institution that has operated for more than a century.
County staff told the committee the error arose from a clerical mistake in the 2016 and 2017 assessment rolls that granted a 99% exemption rather than the 100% exemption the property was entitled to. Because the mistaken bills went unpaid and the error was not identified within the county’s three-year correction period, staff asked the committee to cancel the unenforceable balance under the county’s statutory authority.
“Mister McGuire” said the bills went unpaid after the institution received them and added, “a lot of religious institutions when they receive a tax bill, they just file it in the circular can, and then they proceed down this path.” He told the committee the law permits corrections in cases where the normal error process cannot be used because the three-year period has passed.
Committee members questioned how a 100% exemption had been reduced to 99% in the assessment record. “How are these mistakes made in the first place?” one member asked. McGuire said staff had investigated but had no definitive explanation for the clerical error in this case.
Committee member Miss Alex moved approval and Mister Bergwerk seconded. The committee recorded the motion as approved unanimously.
