" Even if foreclosure did happen, he says, the city would be last in line to collect, behind Rochwil's other creditors."

Would City ask Walker a couple of follow-up questions?:

1) What actions did Richards, predecessors take (or fail to take) to collect unpaid taxes from Rochwil from the day they first fell behind?

2) why is Rochester last in line to collect on unpaid taxes? Is there some law or regulation that mandates that governmental entities collect last? Or did the city at some point negotiate away its rights to be higher in the pecking order?

The translation on this is that Rockwil was a scam from day one and this thing was designed to collect money, and disburse as little as possible.

The property should be foreclosed on. Period. This is about principles, as well as dollars. Tom Richards needs to do this to prove to Monroe County taxpayers that he is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wilmorite.

Tom Richards benefitted financially from campaign contributions for the mayor campaign that were made by Tom Wilmot - one of Richards' top campaign contributors. Check out the link yourself:

http://rocdocs.democratandchronicle.com/database/campaign-finance-reports-mayoral-race

Come on Tom; prove to us that you are not a stooge for Wilmorite. And don't allow this property to be sold to another party that is planning to milk the property for all of the tax benefits it can.

CCK, I'll certainly try. I've sent Walker your questions. If and when he gets back to me, I'll post his responses here.

Ms. Fein: Thanks. However I won't be holding my breath waiting for Walker to respond. Or to at least respond with anything either comprehensive or credible.

It's nice to see that I'm not the only one so troubled by this.

So it all goes back to the City needing Wilmorite's help to revitalize a downtown location (the Sibley building.) So Wilmorite basically agreed to buying the location as long as there was a "buffer" which, in the future, would allow them to skate on the taxes owed. Well that turned out great for us, didn't it?

So here we are, again offering tax breaks on the exact same building to another corporation with the exact same hopes pinned to it.

STOP THE CORPORATE WELFARE! I would rather see downtown rot than see another corporation get yet another tax break. Our government will give away the candy store as long as you're a corporation. But if you're a tax-paying citizen- you get only one thing: screwed.

What is striking is the double standard. Wilmots are multi-decade donors to Democrat campaigns on local, state and national levels. Can you image the outrage, the screams for investigations and indictments, the endless articles in the D&C and City, if only the Wilmots were Republicans? The hypocrisy of Rochester's liberal news media is just unbelievable. Moreover, can you imagine any circumstances, any at all, under which the building would not have been foreclosed against if it were owned by a Republican family?

Double-standard or not (and I totally agree with what you're saying) we need to take partisanship out of this because corruption is rampant on both sides on all levels of government. I agree that the local news media does the citizens of Rochester just as great a disservice as our wing-nut, corporation-loving politicians. But that is obviously never going to change. It's a shame because they have a responsibility to present unbiased, complete, and factual news but all you ever see is "Republican this" and "Republican that." But you don't vote for your local news media so really what choice do we have?

CCK, Gary just got back to me. Here are your answers:

"There were no taxes in a technical sense. This was a COMIDA deal in which the property is held by COMIDA and the obligation to pay in lieu of taxes(PILOT) is contractual. This means that the City and County do not have a tax lien to foreclose. The debt obligations were subrogated (second to) the primary mortgage debt until it is paid, which has not occurred. This was part of the original deal struck back in the 1990's that we have had to live with.

The real issue is that the property is not owned by Wilmorite or Wilmont, but by Rochwil. It is a single purpose entity whose only asset is the building. Even after the issues above are cleared away and the 1st mortgage paid, the only recourse would be to take the building. It does not make sense for the City to take the building until there is a plan for how it is to be used. To do otherwise would be to make the City responsible for the building, which would simply add to the loses.

You can be critical of the way the original deal was put together, but at the time it was a legitimate effort on the part of Mayor Ryan to save the building when Sibleys shut down. In any case, that doesn't do us any good as we need to deal with the situation we inherited and our goal is to use the influence these obligations give to us to get the building back into full service and complementing downtown again."

Mr. Gary Walker can use all the fancy jargon he wants to confuse the issue. The bottom line is the city is not collecting taxes owed because of some deal they made. Of course, if you're a homeowner, they will gladly use all the power of the law behind them to get what they're owed. But when it comes to corporations, it's all back room deals and fancy financial lingo and COMIDA this and contract that and corporations within corporations and blah blah blah.

I love how he adds, "...you can be critical..." Thanks, Mr.Gary Walker! I think I will be critical! Because the methods this City has used to try to keep it's downtown vital have sucked for DECADES. But go ahead- keep on giving out tax breaks to corporations left and right and expect different results the next time.

Ms. Fein -

Thank you for getting Walker's response. It was very informative. It also opend up several additional questions which unfortunately can only be answered by the late Mayor Ryan (although I suspect Bill Johnson, having taken the reins from Ryan in 1994, might be able to offer some insights were he so inclined).

But clearly the take away from Waker's response is that, even if Ryan is the one who negotiated a sweetheart deal favoring the Wilmots, the Johnson and Duffy administrations failed to take any remedial action when the Wilmot's shell company initially defaulted on their payments or failed to set out a process to determine what to do if and when the day of judgment finally arrived.

Certainly the taxpayers have a right to know whether Bill and Bob did all they could to avoid this fiasco. But I assume that Walker would consider it impolite to comment on the actions or inactions of previous administrations.

Mr. Walker is clearly trying to confuse the issue. Didn't the town of Irondequoit just threaten action against Congel for failing to make PILOT payments at the Medley Center Mall? It is too bad that Walker has to be so evasive. This just makes the entire situation seem more suspicious. Wilmot has a moral obligation to be a good citizen and come clean on this obligation. Richards needs to move to recover these PILOT funds, immediately.

Ms Fein,

I believe some years ago, City interviewed then Deputy Mayor Jeff Carlson about this issue. It may be wise to republish his comments.

As I read this article a second and third time, something came to me. Since the city does not want to pursue collection of our tax dollars, and, since this LLC has no assets, it should be audited to prove that. If the revenue in the building exceeds the costs to operate it, that means there is an operating profit. If that is the case, Walker is wrong. Moving money when tax liablity exists is a form of fraud. I believe that paying any creditors while owing taxes makdes the decision maker to do so individually liable. An audit and legal opinion seem in order here.

Yeah, this stinks worse than Charlotte Beach algae... something less than legal is happening here. Too bad only City is investigating it.

The city could benefit by taking back control of the St. Joseph Garage, whicH does have sufficient revenue.
We are all aware that Wilmorite is a major contributer to Democratic Party causes.
This is the reason that they were allowed to set up the Rochwil shell. the public was told that the reason that the City dropped a lawsuit against Wilmorite and Sibley, was because of Wilmorites great plans to develop the site as a multi-use property.

City, Please do not let this issue fall off the radar! This is a major (shady) deal. Especially with today's story in the D&C regarding Rochester's debt... perhaps collecting on $22 MILLION in back taxes would make the city's debt less "humbling"??? Or perhaps foreclosing on Sibley and then selling it to at least recoup SOMETHING??? Just a crazy thought.

Wilmorite CANNOT WAIT to transfer ownership to Winn so they can say it's no longer in their hands (and I guarantee City Hall will sit idly by and let it happen). Typical corporate welfare / political donor / backroom BS. Must be nice not having to pay taxes... and collecting rent from the unwashed masses to boot! - It's a win-win! (pun intended)

Wouldn't it be nice to throw the entire 22 million at the Rochester City School District? I honestly think they get too much money from tax payers already, but I'd much rather see it in their hands than see the City forgive what Wilmorite owes. Plus, if you gave the city school district 22 million, would they really have any excuse whatsoever for not increasing graduation rates? I mean, with 22 million in hand, how could you fail?

I realize this could never happen in a million years, legally. I'm just making a point that a) 22 million is a hell of a lot of debt to "forgive" and b) this city could sure use that money.