Billionaire won’t pay property taxes because of goose poop
Feb 5, 2018, 2:51 PM
One Florida billionaire is refusing to pay $90,000 in property taxes on his New York home. The reason, he says, is goose poop.
RELATED: WATCH: John Curley’s play-by-play of a car prowl
“He said, ‘Listen, I’ve got a problem. I can’t use the property that you’re taxing me on. I cannot enjoy it, so therefore I’m not paying,” KIRO Radio’s John Curley said during the Tom and Curley Show on Monday.
Tom Golisano, the founder of a payroll company called Paychex, owns a summer home on the shores of Canandaigua Lake in the small town of South Bristol, New York. Lately, the home’s sprawling front yard has been turned into a toilet for the lake’s Canadian Geese population.
“There are between 100 to 200 Canadian geese that make his lawn a regular pooping place,” Tom Tangney said.
According to Golisano, he’s tried fishing line, repellent spray, and a wolf decoy—none of which kept the geese at bay. The lawn is so saturated in goose poop, he said, that no one can go outside barefoot.
“You can’t play croquet, or whatever rich people do in their big lawns,” Tangney said.
Golisano claims it’s the city’s responsibility to do away with the geese. The city, however, disagrees. For now, the two sides are in a standoff.
“What I don’t know, and this is why we can’t adjudicate it fairly, is I don’t know whose property those geese are. If he killed all the geese on his property, would that be okay because they’re nobody’s property and they’re just wild animals?” Tangney said.
Here in Washington state at least, the short answer is no.
“We give them a break because they’re from Canada,” Curley said.
-
Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 3pm for John Curley and Shari Elliker.
