Providence - The Top 40 Delinquent Taxpayers

Providence - The Top 40 Delinquent Taxpayers

The top 40 delinquent property taxpayers in Providence owe $3.7 million in back taxes, according to data provided to GoLocalProv by the city.

 

The delinquent taxpayers—broken down into the top 20 commercial and top 20 residential owners—includes the second largest utility in the country, a former chancellor for Brown University, a prominent local attorney, and the CEO of a jewelry company.

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In all, a total of $8.5 million in property tax payments are currently delinquent, according to the city tax collector.

According to state law, a local property taxpayer becomes delinquent by missing one quarterly tax payment. Those in the top 40 list were still delinquent as of the close of business yesterday at City Hall. They are ranked based not on how late the payments are, but rather on the total amount owed.

Bankrupt Biltmore Behind

Topping the list of delinquent businesses is one of the most iconic hotels in Rhode Island, the Biltmore. City records, which list the owner as Historic Hotel Partners of Providence LP, show that the 11 Dorrance Street hotel is past due on about $267,000 in taxes for this year alone. In total, the Biltmore is delinquent on a total of about $615,000 in taxes. The cash-strapped hotel is currently in receivership. A plan to sell it for $18 million fell through earlier this month.

In June of this year, the Biltmore won a legal battle with the city when a Superior Court judge ruled that the hotel had overpaid its taxes. But the hotel was still behind on its taxes for 2011, as of this week, according to city records. Officials at the hotel did not respond to requests for comment.

 

The business that has racked up the most in delinquent taxes, however, is National Grid, which city records list as the Narragansett Electric Company, its legal name in Rhode Island. National Grid is past due on eight separate properties.

A spokesman for the company claimed it is not delinquent. “To the best of our knowledge we are not delinquent on any taxes owed to the City of Providence,” said David Graves.

But city records still showed a past due balance totaling $1.4 million as of yesterday.

City: Pay up to help with budget crisis

A spokesman for Mayor Angel Taveras yesterday issued a plea for property owners to pay what is due. “The city takes tax delinquency seriously and will continue to follow up and seek collection,” said David Ortiz. “In this time of budget challenges it’s especially important that residents and businesses pay their taxes promptly and communicate with the city if there is a financial hardship that is keeping them from paying in a timely manner.”

On the residential side, at least half of the homes are all on the East Side.

 

The residential taxpayers that are delinquent include:

■ Artemis A. W. Joukowsky is a 1955 graduate and former chancellor of Brown University. He is the founder of the Brown University Sports Foundation and lent his name to a new archeology institute on campus. Joukowsky, who still has an office on campus, had a 30-year career as an AIG executive. He also has been a trustee of the Archaeological Institute of America and the King Hussein Foundation. Joukowsky ranks second on the list of delinquent residential payers provided by the city. The total amount owed: $18,855.

■ Darrell S. Ross is the owner of Ross-Simons, a Rhode Island-based jeweler. The company has 13 stores in seven states and mails out more than 50 million catalogs worldwide, according to its Web site. Ross is also a prominent donor on the state political circuit, having made $20,000 in contributions over the past eight years to David Cicilline, Frank Caprio, Sheldon Whitehouse, and others. (Ross did not respond to a request for comment.) Total amount owed: $11,514.

■ Arthur E. Coia II, the son and grandson of two prominent labor leaders in the state, is the president of HGK Asset Management, Inc., an investment firm based in Jersey City. Yesterday, Coia told GoLocalProv that he was unaware that there were past due taxes on his 360 Olney St. home on the East Side. He says he just recently purchased the home and moved in over the summer. The former owner was a Brown University professor, according to Coia. (Coia could not recall his name.) Total amount owed: $11,705.

 

■ Marc A. Crisafulli is a managing partner at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP and a former senior vice president at GTECH, and a neighbor of Coia. Over the past decade, he has contributed about $45,000 total to local political candidates ranging from Patrick Lynch, Peter Kilmartin, and Lincoln Chafee to Frank Caprio, Gina Raimondo, and Don Carcieri. Total amount owed in back taxes: $10,175.

Crisafulli told GoLocalProv yesterday that he did not realize he was delinquent. “I will absolutely rectify it immediately if in fact I am late on a payment,” he said.

Sarah Dowling, an attorney for Joukowsky, said her office would look into the matter. “Obviously Mr. Joukowsky pays his taxes on time,” Dowling said. “We believe it’s a mistake and, if it isn’t, we’ll rectify it.”

City has 87 percent collection rate

The city currently has a tax collection rate of roughly 87 percent—meaning 13 percent are delinquent, according to the tax collector’s office.

 

“While no one likes to see less revenue coming in than can be achieved through 100 percent collection, the fact is that the City’s budget accounts for less than 100 percent collection,” said city Councilman David Salvatore. “Finance Committee meetings and reports from the Administration following the conclusion of the first fiscal quarter showed the City was exceeding its anticipated collection rate.”

He said the city will evaluate the situation again at the close of the second quarter, on December 31. “Until that time, the most important thing the City can do is live within its means and continue to pursue the taxes it is owed,” Salvatore said.

The collection rate ideally should be well over 90 percent, according to Gary Sasse, a former director of the state Department of Administration and a longtime head of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. He said it would be “disappointing” if the rate remains below that threshold by the close of the fiscal year, now six months away.

Currently, the state publishes and regularly updates a list of the top 100 tax delinquents. Sasse, who is a fiscal adviser to the city council, said he believes the city should start doing the same thing. “I think that disclosure is important,” he said.
 

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