After six years, the fight over a tax assessment at Tri-Town Plaza is finally over.
The town and owner Ron Spector agreed Tuesday to lower the assessment on a portion of the plaza and to give Spector a $170,780 tax refund which will be applied to future taxes.
Spector, in return, voluntarily withdrew his appeal Wednesday in Superior Court in Milford. The case was scheduled to go to trial Wednesday.
In 2005, Spector said he did not agree with the town’s $7 million asssessement of his 103,597 square-foot building that and once housed Ames Department Store and Adams Supermarket.
Spector thought his building should have only been assessed at $3 million, so he appealed the assessment in Superior Court.
Under the agreement, Spector agreed to a reduced assessment of $4.5 million for the building, which is a part of six parcels within the Tri-Town Plaza on Derby Avenue.
Spector said that in years past, no one from the town contacted him.
The matter dragged on because it was “mishandled,’‘ by the administration of past First Selectman Bob Koskelowski, Spector said.
Spector said First Selectman Paul Roy contacted him and they had discussions about working out an agreement rather than go to court.
“I was able to have a conversation. Paul was a decent, honest broker,’‘ Spector said.
Spector said he thinks he could have gotten the assessment even lower if he had continued his court battle, but said it was becoming expensive.
“I’m just looking forward to moving on,’‘ Spector said from his home in Nevada Wednesday.
Roy said he was determined to get this matter settled when he took office five months ago.
He credited his success to the Board of Selectmen and Town Counsel Colleen Fries.
“They all helped to get this settled,’‘ Roy said.
The Board of Selectmen approved an agreement Tuesday night, but Roy declined to comment on the matter immediately after Tuesday’s meeting.
Roy said Wednesday he recused himself from voting because Spector had donated $2,000 to his campaign.
Jon Szuch, chairman of the town’s Economic Development Commission, said he was pleased to see this resolved after six years, “only after two parties showed interest in each other to resolve the simple tax dispute amicably and not treat the situation like a capital one murder case.’‘
Szuch said he hopes the town and Spector can move forward.
“I encourage both parties to do this as expeditiously as possible, as this is in the best interest of all parties and the tax-paying residents and frequent shoppers to this plaza,’‘ he said.
“There’s a simple old expression — build it and they will come…this is one thing we can guarantee in Seymour,” Szuch said.
Roy said he hopes the agreement is a first step in developing the plaza.
He said he has invited Spector to a Board of Selectmen meeting so he can discuss what’s going on at the plaza in terms of development.
Spector said he has talked to people about moving into the plaza, but because of the economy, there is little interest at the moment.
