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The allegations came from the Mount Vernon Board of Education, which said in a statement from Wednesday, Feb. 1 that the city was refusing to transfer more than $11 million in taxes for the 2019-2020 school year to the city's school district.
"Make no mistake: there is no argument about the fact that the city owes the schools $11.78 million, now nine months late," the Board of Education said, adding that the school district is a "victim of the city’s financial dysfunction," and that the city acknowledges the unpaid funds but has no way to pay.
The school board added that its financial professionals said the city would owe another $13 million to the school district over the next 17 months.
Because of the unpaid funds, the Board of Education sent letters to the New York State Attorney General, NYS Comptroller, Westchester County District Attorney, and County Executive George Latimer, as well as numerous elected officials, to request an investigation into the city's "malfeasance and possible criminality," the school board said.
In a letter sent to New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, Feb 6, Mount Vernon city officials responded to the allegations from the school board and said that no criminal activity had taken place.
City officials allege that Mount Vernon is not withholding the more than $11 million in taxes from the school district, but was unable to collect those taxes from 460 properties in the city Additionally, the city could not enforce the payment of these taxes because of the Real Estate Property Tax Law, which made it so that the city could not foreclose for unpaid taxes in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state-wide freeze on foreclosures.
"It is simply a matter of how to collect the unpaid school taxes from the taxpayers given the financial distress of the city," the letter stated, which was sent by Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, Comptroller Darren Morton, and City Council President Danielle Browne.
City officials also condemned the school board's actions in the letter.
"We have engaged with the school district privately on how to proceed with these unpaid monies, so it was shocking to see a strongly worded letter sent to your offices and promoted to news outlets while discussions were ongoing," the letter said.
The letter continued, "nonetheless, we stand ready to work with your offices and the school district to rectify this issue as quickly as possible for the betterment of all Mount Vernon residents."
City officials also called the school board's claims "inaccurate," and said that the "disinformation...endangers the future of public education in Mount Vernon," in a statement released on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
In addition to the Board of Education's claims against the city, the school board has also started a campaign called "Rescue Mount Vernon Schools" to raise support from the public in getting the city to pay the unpaid taxes to the school district.
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