NECCO uninterested in renegotiating tax break with Revere

REVERE – It produces sweet treats by the ton, but a city request to renegotiate a property tax break hit a sour note with New England Confectionary Company.The highest-assessed city commercial taxpayer benefits from a property tax break negotiated with the city. The Tax Increment Financing, as it is called, was negotiated as a part of a city bid to keep NECCO based in Revere.City Council members proposed renegotiating the tax agreement as a way to raise more local tax revenue to offset a $1.2 million reduction in state aid to the city this year.NECCO President Richard Krause, in a May 12 letter to Mayor Thomas Ambrosino, said the firm is not interested in drawing up new TIF terms.”Given the current economic conditions, the significant global competition that we face and the high costs of operating a manufacturing facility in the state of Massachusetts that we incur, our position is that the TIF needs to remain in place,” Krause stated in a letter to Ambrosino.Krause’s letter underscores NECCO’s status as one of the city’s largest employers.The candy maker and half of the other top 10 commercial taxpayers locally have filed requests appealing their property tax bills.NECCO’s American Legion Highway property is assessed at $27 million for property tax purposes – nearly $10 million more than the assessed value of the Showcase Cinema complex, the city’s second-highest assessed commercial taxpayer.NECCO, Showcase, Wonderland Greyhound Park, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Northgate shopping center and Stop & Shop are filing abatement requests challenging tax bills, some dating back five years in the case of Showcase Cinemas.Wonderland Marketplace, the third-highest assessed commercial taxpayer with property valued at $18 million, has not filed an abatement request.Wonderland racetrack’s owners wired $752,301.22 to the city last October ending a two-year effort by the city to collect the track’s back taxes and sewer bills. The effort escalated in the late summer and fall when the city pursued foreclosure proceedings against Wonderland and threatened to pull its liquor and other licenses.The track settled its debts in the wake of an option agreement signed last summer with Suffolk Downs’ owner giving Suffolk an option to purchase Wonderland. Owners of both tracks said the agreement’s goal is to protect the “thousands of existing jobs at both sites and strengthen the effort to bring a resort-style casino to the East Boston-Revere area should the state decide to expand gaming.”