Kings Point okays tax exemption for Lalezarian

Richard Jacques

A Kings Point plot of land donated to the Town of North Hempstead by a campaign contributor of Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman is now exempt real estate taxes.

Questions were raised last year after the land was accepted Oct. 5 by the Town of North Hempstead Board of Trustees from Frank Lalezarian, a Great Neck real estate developer and Kaiman supporter.

Lalezarian Developers Inc., of Lake Success contributed a total of $3,000 to the Friends of Jon Kaiman between 2008 and 2009, according to a New York State Board of Elections campaign financial disclosure report.

At a regular meeting Monday, the Village of Kings Point Board of Trustees responded to a Dec. 22 letter from Andrew M. Hyman, deputy attorney for the Town of North Hempstead, regarding the vacant lot on East Shore Road and unanimously agreed to an exemption from property taxes for the land.

“It’s the law. We can’t tax another state agency,” said Kings Point Village Clerk Louis Di Domenico.

The Town of North Hempstead has maintained that the land was accepted to preserve open space.

Kaiman did not respond to a request made by Blank Slate Media regarding accusations that the land was accepted as a favor to Lalezarian.

On Tuesday, Town of North Hempstead spokesman Colin Nash limited his comments to the tax issue only.

“The piece of land was donated as a gift and that automatically takes it off the tax roles,” said Nash.

In an e-mail to the Great Neck News, local resident Javid Zarabi wrote that Kaiman accepted the property from Lalezarian ‘for the sole purpose of taking the property off the tax roles and to give the developer a deduction worth $1.5 million off his taxes.”

The Village of Kings Point Board of Trustees rejected an offer by Lalezarian to accept the land before it was accepted by the Town of North Hempstead, according to published reports.

E-mail: rjacques@theislandnow.com

 

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