Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza in hot water over STAR exemption
Tuesday, July 7th 2009, 10:09 AM
DelMundo for News
Long Island home of Doctor William Duke and wife Queens Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza.
DelMundo for News
The house Carrozza claims to be her residence in Bayside.
DelMundo for News
Doctor William Duke, Carrozza's husband.
The taxman is coming for Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza, who represents Queens but lives in a mansion in tony Glen Head, L.I.
The Nassau County Department of Assessment is investigating whether Carrozza and her doctor husband tried to double-dip under the state School Tax Relief (STAR) Program, which gives married couples a tax break on their primary residence.
Nassau records show that Carrozza's husband, Dr. William Duke, filed a STAR application in December for the $1.8million Gold Coast manse, where the Democratic lawmaker admitted she has lived since February.
The couple already gets a STAR exemption on a home they own in Bayside, Queens, public city records show. Bayside is part of the 26th Assembly District, which the 42-year-old Carrozza has represented since 1997.
After the Daily News discovered Carrozza's new digs, she admitted the family rents out the Bayside house - though she insisted it is still her "primary residence."
The couple bought the Glen Head manse in June 2008, signing public mortgage documents that explicitly state it would be their "principal residence."
The exemption on the Bayside home will save the couple $232 on their 2009-10 tax bill, according to a spokesman for the city Finance Department.
The savings for the Nassau County house, based on previous years, would be about $700.
"This is a nonissue," Carrozza told The News on Friday.
The Nassau County Department of Assessment disagreed.
The agency froze Duke's application after The News informed officials on Friday of the exemption on the Bayside home, said department spokesman Randolph Yunker.
The agency contacted the city Finance Department Monday and requested that it review the situation, Yunker added.
Under Nassau law, Carrozza and Duke had until Jan. 2, 2009, to apply for the exemption in order for it to show up on their 2009-10 tax bill. Yunker said Duke won't get the exemption "until he proves he doesn't have another residence with a STAR on it."
According to a statement from the state Office of Real Property Services, which oversees the exemptions, a married couple is "entitled to a STAR exemption on no more than one residence, unless they are living apart due to legal separation."
Carrozza said Friday she and Duke are "maintaining separate residences," but refused to explain further when asked if they are legally separated.
"I am not publicly discussing my marital situation," said Carrozza, who is a lawyer.
That explanation conflicted with what she told The News two weeks ago. Carrozza said then that the couple, which has two children, tried to buy a bigger Bayside home after they outgrew their own.
"We were tripping over each other," she said at the time.
She claimed the family moved into the mansion - which they had bought as an investment - when a deal for a bigger home fell through.
Early Monday, Carrozza's Mercedes-Benz was parked in the mansion's driveway, right next to Duke's Audi.
Duke declined to comment when asked about the STAR application or his wife's claim they were maintaining separate residences.
The Queens Republican Party has demanded Carrozza resign - an argument the Daily News Editorial Board made in an editorial Monday.
Carrozza, speaking in reference to the GOP's statement, said: "I'm not surprised that one's political opponents will try to make a small situation into a big one."
Reporting
