Gift turns out to be part of negotiated settlement
When Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa owner Joe Hardy in August presented the Uniontown Area School District with a $100,000 cash gift, the gesture had all the appearance of benevolence, of a well-off citizen helping his community. Now it appears the cash was part of a settlement – a provision deliberately kept off the public record – to settle Hardy’s tax assessment dispute with the school district.
What the public was told by the school district is that instead of basing Hardy’s local property taxes on the value of his real estate holdings, a system reflecting his income to expenses would be used. Hardy wasn’t given special treatment as owners of commercial properties have the ability to make similar requests.
However, there ought to have been public hearings, as the county is insisting be held on Hardy’s appeal, to determine just values. Hardy had been making tax payments. If through the appeal process he won, then the county, townships and school district would have to make good on repayments. When the dispute is over property that could be valued anywhere between $3 million and $40 million, the stakes are high. To hedge against a loss, governments will often escrow funds.
Uniontown school district by far had the largest stake in Hardy’s appeal and it hadn’t escrowed any money. Faced with a possible substantial hit, the school board thought the wiser course was to settle the dispute outside the system with numbers both the school and Hardy could agree upon.
A July 18 memo from the district’s solicitor to the resort’s attorney spells out those stipulations. Values for the 1999 through 2003 years were established that net Hardy nearly $1 million in tax credits for overpayment of taxes. The letter also details Hardy’s $100,000 “gift.”
Yet, that was not to be acknowledged through public disclosure of the terms. In the letter the school’s attorney writes, “I recommend that we address the terms of our arrangement into a settlement agreement which I will prepare; however, as your client requested, we will not state the cash gift.”
Uniontown school district taxpayers need to ask the superintendent and school board why they would agree to such terms. Why did the district go along with this scheme to keep part of the settlement secret? Why did the board permit Hardy to appear as a champion of the schools when the “gift” was settling a legal dispute?
Had a copy of this memo not reached the Herald-Standard, taxpayers never would have known about the deal. Taxpayers also need to ask the school board to explain in detail, certainly there are documents including a $50,000 appraisal that should be available, as to how the assessment values for Nemacolin were derived.