BOL & County Exec at Odds Over Rye City Tiki Suit

And then there were three. Several weeks ago, the City of Rye moved to . Now County Executive Rob Astorino has threatened legal action against the municipality to block the move and the Board of Legislators has promised to thwart using litigation to settle the dispute.

on public land including and the . was spared and will retain its tax-exemption, but the push to collect property tax from Tiki Bar and Seaside Johnnies Restaurant continues to move forward.

In response, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced he would pursue a lawsuit against the municipality to prevent it from adding the restaurant to its tax roll. An article reported by the Journal News Wednesday said the City of Rye wants $29,258 from Pier Restaurant.

The Democrat contingency of the County Board of Legislators quickly responded, releasing a statement saying they will work to reject any request from County Executive Astorino to sue the City of Rye. The County Executive must have board approval to take legal action.

Legislator and BOL Majority Whip Judy Myers (D-Larchmont) said: “It’s hard to believe that the County Executive and his staff seem eager about going to get into court on this issue. I’d call that political hypocrisy.”

BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins also said a lawsuit was not the appropriate strategy for this situation.

“We have no intention of bringing any of our municipalities to court where the only prospect is to simply create even more conflict and discord,” said BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers). “A resolution to this tax question is already at hand: The contract with the tiki bar plainly states that they are responsible for any taxes that may be charged.”

In the Journal News story, County Legislator Martin Rogowsky, D-Harrison, was also on the issue:

"This restaurant is part of the park and therefore exempt," said Legislator Martin Rogowsky, D-Harrison. "In my opinion, it would set a bad precedent. We need to defend county taxpayers."

Astorino has requested a special meeting of the Board of Legislators on Saturday to resolve the matter.

The Pier Restaurant and Tiki Bar is located on county-controlled public property at Playland. Last month, the City of Rye deemed the privately-owned establishment constituted "private commercial use as a stand alone bar restaurant" and assessed the property for $33,600.