On February 12, 2026, the Syracuse Board of Assessment Review convened at 9:15 AM to hear multiple property tax exemption applications. The board, chaired by Joe Saya, considered nine cases involving not-for-profit organizations seeking full or partial exemptions. No votes were taken; all decisions were deferred pending further review, with notices to be sent the first week of April.
133 West Pleasant Ave – Community Garden Exemption
109 Bird Street & 908-12 Montgomery Street – Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation
830 James Street – Helio Health (Former Hearth)
205 West Newell Street – By His Spirit Ministry
601 Irving Ave – Church Property
127 West Brighton Ave – Islamic Center
3429 James Street – Liberty Resources
1323 North Salina Street – Unity Firm
527 Oak Street – Interfaith Works
FINS (Le Moyne College) Properties – 20 Parcels
The Board of Assessment Review. Today is Thursday, February twelfth. And it's uh almost nine fifteen. We just had a have a little meeting outside, so apologize for the delay. Just want to remind everyone that uh these meetings are recorded and also are live on YouTube, and they can be viewed at a later date as well. Um, if you want to go back to uh the meeting. So with that, let's have a roll call. My name is Joe Saya. Okay, thank you. Are these uh all individuals? One two one, okay. Okay, if you want to come out right up here, sure. Good, good, thank you. Yeah, if you can speak right into that, that's perfect, just like you did. Um, so you're here for one thirty-three West Pleasant Ave. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna swear you in. I'm also gonna swear Ann in um uh as this is the first hearing of the day. And uh uh we'll go from there. So if you can raise your right hand. Okay. Uh state your name for the record. Charles Matlaw. Okay. You both uh firm to tell the truth and give accurate information to the best of your ability? Yes. Okay, very good. All right, so let's take this one first. Again, 133 West Pleasant Avenue. Um this is a not-for-profit. So so you're uh here uh uh for an exemption. Okay. Um so this is a vacant lot. Uh uh let me just get some pertinent numbers here. We don't have a lot of people. It's not the process that's it, that's all we need. Okay, very good. Um so we have a current tentative assessed value of four thousand dollars with a land value of four thousand dollars, and the petitioner believes that the fair market value is four thousand dollars. Again, this is a full exemption uh request. Um so with that, what how how is this property used to warrant an exemption? Uh so uh purchased the property in September from the land bank for a dollar. Um, and the reason why they sold me uh the lot was because uh building out a community garden uh for uh McKinley Brighton that's across the street from uh the lot. And so that's my program, the Soar and Growth Scholar Program, and what we do is we generally teach the community the importance of knowing where your food comes from, uh local farmers, partnerships, those type of things. And so I've gotten funding to actually build out the community garden, and it took me a year uh going back and forth with the land bank for them to sell me the property so that I can build the community garden and have a spigot install. Um so yeah, I'm not gonna make any money out the property. Uh as a community garden for the school and the houses uh around the school. Um, and um, yeah, I guess if I'm forced to pay taxes, I'm gonna have to give it back to the land bank because like four thousand dollars a year isn't sustainable uh yeah for me as an organization. You wouldn't be paying four thousand dollars in taxes. Okay, right. What do you what's the approximate on that? That that's that's what the that's that's the uh value uh that's the assessed value that the city puts uh uh on the property.