Another lawsuit could be coming for the owners of ShoppingTown Mall. Moonbeam Capital Investments LLC is in a legal battle over back taxes with Onondaga County. The Town of DeWitt and the Jamesville-DeWitt school board are going to work together to hire a lawyer to fight Moonbeam.
The DeWitt board voted 6 to 1 to hire Bond, Schoeneck and King. Monday morning. They want to protect taxpayers from having to pay for Moonbeam’s negligence.
Moonbeam is trying to have the value of the property cut by 90 percent – from $36 million to $3.6 million. If that happens the town and school board would have to refund any taxes that the company overpays. The town says Moonbeam has devalued the property.
“They’ve done nothing to maintain it, repair it or even market it,” said Ed Michalenko, DeWitt Town Supervisor. “We’ve offered numerous solutions — grant programs, state aid programs — to Moonbeam. And they basically refuse to work with us.”
The town of DeWitt plans to split the legal costs with Jamesville-DeWitt School Board. There is a school board meeting Monday night where the board could vote whether or not to retain a lawyer.
Onondaga County is also suing Moonbeam for about $10 million in back taxes.
We’ve reached out to Moonbeam for comment and have not heard back.
Source: Spectrum News
