Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The governor don't need no stinkin' permits!

From the NY Post:

Domestic diva Sandra Lee has been renovating the tony Westchester County home she shares with Gov. Cuomo while blowing off the town’s permit process — and possibly dodging higher taxes, officials say.

The millionaire Food Network star got a relative steal on her six-bedroom home at 4 Bittersweet Lane in New Castle when she bought it for $1.2 million in early 2009, not long after home values crashed.

Since then, she’s been fixing up the property, known as Lily Pond, with virtually no consultation from town Building Inspector Bill Maskiell, The Journal News reported Sunday.

Maskiell said it took six months of “chasing and threatening’’ Lee in 2012 to get her to apply for a proper building permit for the $11,000 gazebo and shed she had already installed.

“I got no response from her people,’’ he told the Journal News. “I finally spoke with [Cuomo’s] people. They sat down with me and said, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ Then, they didn’t get back to me. I finally sent a violation and got a response.

Finally, [Cuomo’s spokesman] Larry Schwartz got in touch with me.”

He said Lee — who is worth an estimated $20 million, according to the Web site Celebrity Net Worth — eventually got the permit, although the town’s assessor said that ultimately, the gazebo and shed did not affect her property assessment or $28,312 annual tax bill.

But there has been a host of renovations inside Lee’s home — and proudly shown off to the press — that were done without town approval, meaning she could be skirting higher taxes, the paper said.

The town’s property taxes are based on home values, so any upgrades could increase the amount.

6 comments:

VMGillen said...

Generally speaking, taxable value is increased when you add square footage; new bathrooms &c require permits but, unless the house didn't have indoor plumbing renovation work should not increase taxable on an individual home. However, if fixing up drives up sales prices in the neighborhood, then, yeah: there's an impact.

Anonymous said...

All the animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Joe said...

The building inspector should start looking for another job.
Back in the 80s Cuomos mom was always lurking at Manhassets N Shore hospital and "commandeering" fax machines & phones for personal use. One day my sister was faxing blood work and got into a scuffle with Mrs.Cuomo who physically shoved her and ripped the blood work right out the fax machine and said quote: "Ill get you fired" My sister was then laid off the following week. This is a family of bully scumbags with law degrees. To add don't let Sandra Lee's clean TV image fool ya !! --Check out her background and upbringing.

Anonymous said...

Sinners!

Anonymous said...

Sandra Lee also skirts real cooking by serving up her atrocious Kwanzaa cake at her raging, alcohol-fueled, vomit-inducing-decorated stupors of a party.

Anonymous said...

New Sfacime, Old Sfacime, Same old Scheme