North Shore School District Receives $500K

With the North Shore School District facing a loss of as much as $8 million in annual tax revenue from the closing of the Glenwood Landing Power Plant, $500,000 in state money has been promised to mitigate the shortfall.

Assemb. Charles Lavine, D-Glen Cove, announced the immediate assistance, as well as a bill he is sponsoring that would establish a "re-powering and mitigation fund" for municipalities facing property tax losses as electric generating facilities within their boundaries downsize or close. The fund would provide a "glide path" to recovering dollars lost to adjusted assessments, according to Lavine's office.

Lavine said the idea is to prevent the losses from impacting local communities too severely.

"The decision to decommission the Glenwood Landing power plant, which has been in operation for more than a century, will significantly reduce their assessment rate and as a result the other property owners would be required to make up the shortfall," Lavine said in a statement. "I am working to provide the North Shore School District with a way in which to recover from the loss of these funds without shifting the burden to other taxpayers."

The $500,000 is intended to provide support for the district's 2013-2014 budget.

The district's actual shortfall will be determined by the assessment of the power plant, the peaker turbines that are still operating on three acres there and the remaining property.

If Lavine's legislation is adopted, the proposed fund would be used to ease the long-term tax burden on the community and others in the same situation.