Lynn bar may lose license over tardy taxes

LYNN – It is a well-known West Lynn bar with no recent history of complaints before the License Commissioners, but the White Eagle?s corner location off Western Avenue is now under city ownership for failure to pay property and personal taxes.Unpaid real estate and personal property taxes on 612 Summer St. date back to 2011 totaling $38,000, according to city finance officials. Chief Financial Officer Peter Caron said the city took ownership following a state Land Court review.He urged licensing commissioners in a September letter to consider suspending the White Eagle?s all-alcohol license “… until such time as all delinquent taxes have been satisfied.”?The recommended action is especially critical and urgent, as there are significant liability issues that may be faced by the City as the owner of real property in which an active liquor establishment is operating,” Caron wrote to License Commission Chairwoman Patricia Barton.The commissioners are scheduled to review Caron?s request on Oct. 14. Barton said the board has not received complaints about the White Eagle during the two years she has served on the board. Barton?s hearing notification letter to bar owner Thomas Ostrowski states that the hearing will address tax non-payment as well as “not having a lease for a licensed establishment” and “lack of management and control.”The hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the police station community room, 300 Washington St.?They are coming before the board because they owe taxes. I want to hear their side of the story,” Barton said.Ostrowski?s wife, Mary, declined to comment Wednesday on the hearing or the White Eagle?s tax status.A 1994 city ordinance allows city officials to suspend or revoke city licenses “when the taxpayer has refused or neglected to pay their taxes.” City attorney James Lamanna said taxpayers have up to a year to pay back taxes and fines in order to redeem their property.Located in Thaddeus Koscusko Square, two blocks from Western Avenue, the White Eagle has been a watering hole for generations of West Lynn residents and workers, said Ward 6 City Councilor Peter Capano.?I?ve never heard any complaints about it,” Capano said.Property tax non-payment put Kevin?s, a Central Avenue bar, into city hands in 2013. Somerville restaurateur Richard Sullivan was the only bidder to respond to city requests to buy and redevelop Kevin?s. Sullivan plans to open a new R.F. O?Sullivan?s pub at the corner of Central and Sutton Street in December.