Under new ownership, Leaning Evergreen tries to lower tax bills
The Enterprise — Noah Zweifel
Leaning Evergreen mobile-home park is at the center of two lawsuits filed against the towns of Berne and Westerlo by the owner of the park, who argues that the two towns have each overvalued the property, which has a parcel each in both towns.
HILLTOWNS — An out-of-state company with a trailer park in the Hilltowns is attempting to drastically reduce its owed taxes on a million-dollar-plus property that is located partly in Berne and partly in Westerlo.
Leaning Evergreen LLC — a New-Jersey-based company which in April purchased a mobile-home park by the same name from Miller Family Realty LLC, based in Delmar — argues in twin lawsuits filed in Albany County against the two towns on July 23 that each town has unlawfully overvalued the property, which is actually two parcels.
The Buffalo lawyer representing the company, Ryan Parisi, told The Enterprise, “We believe this property is over-assessed because the combined fair market assessed value of the parcels is currently significantly above the price my client paid for the properties.”
Parisi went on to assert that state law is “clear that a recent, arms-length purchase price is the best indicator of the value of a property.”
He concluded, “My client is simply seeking to have the assessed value reflect the recent purchase price.”
The four-acre Westerlo parcel currently has an assessed value of $7,500, with a full-market value of $1,293,103, according to town tax rolls; the lawsuit argues that the assessed value should be dropped to $1,232, an 84-percent reduction.
Westerlo has not undertaken town-wide revaluation for decades.
According to the 2025 tax bills for the property, Westerlo was owed $3,864.65 in taxes across its town, highway, and fire district accounts. This would be reduced to roughly $618 under the proposed value.
The three-acre Berne parcel, meanwhile, is currently assessed at $180,000, with a full-market-value of $473,684, according to town tax rolls; the lawsuit argues the assessed value should be dropped to $80,750, a 55-percent reduction.
Tax bills show that the town was owed $2,582.38 across its town highway, fire, and ambulance accounts. This would be reduced to around $1,162 under the proposed value.
The tax bills for both towns were paid in January, before the property changed hands.
