By Jason Klaiber
During its virtual meeting held on Dec. 7, the Jamesville-DeWitt Board of Education assented to a pair of resolutions approving settlement agreements, both of which revolved around the ShoppingTown Mall property and its owner’s unpaid taxes.
The first agreement was related to the settling of tax assessment appeals currently pending in state court.
Moonbeam Capital Investments, the owner of the bygone regional shopping center, failed to pay their school tax bills for the past three school years.
As a result of the case, there was a reduction in the property’s assessed value and Onondaga County fully reimbursed the school district for the unpaid taxes.
The county, the Town of DeWitt and the district negotiated an agreement placing the assessed value of the ShoppingTown parcel on Erie Boulevard East at $18 million. Throughout the past three years, that assessed value hovered around $35 million.
Hinged on that newly-worked-out figure of $18 million, the Jamesville-DeWitt school district would be obligated to repay the county somewhere between $1.2 million and $1.3 million. The exact amount remains to be determined, though county representatives did suggest there be a decrease in repayment to $905,000 based upon payment being made in full.
After the upfront payment is due, the district will have the option to either pay the remainder of the settlement amount over the course of four years at a 2.5% interest rate or pay the entire amount to the county at once with no penalty.
J-D Superintendent Peter Smith said the first agreement approved at the Monday night meeting provides an end to ongoing litigation and that, because of the disclosure of reimbursement figures, it removes certain financial questions for the district as it budgets for upcoming school years.
The second agreement between ShoppingTown Mall, the county and other creditors resolved all of the disputes currently being argued in a western Pennsylvania bankruptcy court, Smith said.
The ownership of the mall and all other parcels, excluding the one on which Chili’s Grill and Bar sits, will be transferred to the county in exchange for a payment of $3.5 million.
If the bankruptcy court approves this second agreement midway through this month, Onondaga County will begin a request-for-proposal process to potentially find a new owner for the mall.
The net proceeds from the sale of the mall will be divided between the county and ShoppingTown, Smith said.
For the first $4.5 million in net proceeds, the county would receive 90% and ShoppingTown would receive 10%.
If the proceeds exceed $4.5 million and reach up to $12.5 million, the county would receive 80% as opposed to ShoppingTown’s 20%.
If the net proceeds land in the range of $12.5 million and $16.5 million, the county would receive a 70% share while ShoppingTown would receive the remainder.
If those proceeds exceed $16.5 million, it would be a 20-80 split between the county and ShoppingTown respectively.
According to Smith, this agreement will allow the county to move forward with plans to redevelop the property in question, which he said would ideally increase the value of the parcels and support the local tax base.
Board member Christine Woodcock Dettor said the agreements bring certainty after years of the property being “one of the biggest albatrosses” in the town of DeWitt.
“We have been waiting for the day when this actually gets resolved,” Dettor said.
In other news
Nate Franz, who serves as the assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and equity, provided an update on the progress of the school resource officer (SRO) task force that began work in October.
The group of around 35 administrators, teachers, staff members, students, parents and community members have been charged with making recommendations to Smith about the future of the SRO program.
The task force distributed a student survey, which yielded 507 responses.
The survey asked about school safety and other school climate-related issues, including the effectiveness of the program.
Information was also gathered from comparisons with other school districts and reviews of national data as well as two focus group sessions held by the high school’s assistant principal Candace Johnson to “understand a bit more about the survey responses of students of color.”
