David McKay Wilson

dwilson3@lohud.com

The New Castle building inspector says Gov. Andrew Cuomo%27s girlfriend%2C Sandra Lee%2C needed building permits for her home renovations at 4 Bittersweet Lane

The six-bedroom Lee/Cuomo home on three acres%2C called Lily Pond%2C is assessed as if it%27s worth %24936%2C000. A local Realtor says it could fetch as much as %241.5 million on the open market.

Bill and Hillary Clinton took out building permits for renovations at their home at 15 Old House Lane in New Castle. Their assessment rose for renovations valued at %24226%2C000%2C but the town did not raise their assessment for renovations valued at %24150%2C000 that were completed in 2011

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino obtained a building permit for a %2410%2C000-renovation project at his home in Mount Pleasant. The town assessor said it didn%27t increase the home%27s value%2C so his assessment didn%27t rise.

NEW CASTLE – Sandra Lee, the Food Network domestic diva and partner of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has built a national brand with her Semi-Homemade Cooking shows and household products, promoting what's billed as "attainable, affordable products to the overextended homemaker and busy professional."

Lee enjoys what might be considered a more unattainable lifestyle at the six-bedroom, $1.2 million house she shares with Cuomo at 4 Bittersweet Lane in this Westchester County town. She has done much in the past six years to improve the property she calls Lily Pond but along the way has run afoul of the town building inspector, Bill Maskiell.

Maskiell said he had to hound her for six months in 2012 to obtain a building permit for a gazebo and shed she had installed and that Lee didn't get permits but should have for other interior renovations.

Without a building permit, the town assessor hasn't reviewed the work to decide whether the improvements would merit an assessment increase and the resulting higher taxes. The 2013 tax bill for Lee and Cuomo — who has made taming New York's notoriously high property taxes a cornerstone of his administration — was $28,312.

The home-improvement approach of Lee and Cuomo contrasts with that of another New Castle power couple — Hillary and Bill Clinton, who was Cuomo's boss when he served as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Clintons obtained permits for projects valued at $376,000 that were done to their Old House Lane home, and their assessment rose 9 percent to reflect some of those improvements. The Clintons' 2013 property tax bill was $54,355.

Keeping one's assessment from rising — or getting it reduced — is all part of suburban living in Westchester, which Cuomo and others have bemoaned as having the nation's highest property taxes. When Lee bought the property during the real estate market decline in 2008, the house, which stands on a knoll off Route 133 close to the Mount Kisco border, was assessed as if it was valued at $1.7 million. According to interviews and information from the property's Multiple Listing Service listing, the seller had an agreement with the New Castle Assessor's Office to reduce the assessment to reflect the sale price, which Lee negotiated down to $1.2 million based on its condition at the time.

The subsequent remodeling job was featured in USA TODAY, New York Magazine, People, and on the cover of Elle Decor.

Lee "ripped out an '80s-era powder room and its 'icky' bunny wallpaper," according to a December 2010 article in USA TODAY. "She put parallel white marble islands in the kitchen. She joined two smaller, darker spaces and installed a wall of windows to create one big, bright living room."

Maskiel said work of that magnitude "would definitely require a permit. I haven't heard about any remodeling there. Anything that involves removing walls or reconfiguring doors would require a building permit."

New York Magazine, meanwhile, in March 2011, reported house improvements and how the governor and Lee approach domestic duties: "Lee just remodeled the basement. 'We're very traditional,' she says of their respective roles. 'I don't like to put gas in the car or take out the garbage. He doesn't particularly like to decorate window treatments.' "

There is no finished basement listed in town assessment records for 4 Bittersweet Lane.

Six years after the property was purchased, and after all of the improvements, the tax assessment remains the same, but market value has dropped by 30 percent, to $936,000, based on the state's imperfect equalization rate, which is extracted from annual trends in home sales data. New Castle, like many Westchester communities, has not revalued its real estate for decades, so building permits are the prime method by which assessors raise a homeowner's assessment.

An email message to Lee at the Food Network was answered by Larry Schwartz, Cuomo's secretary in Albany. He said any work performed at the Lee-Cuomo residence as noted in the USA TODAY article was "all decorative renovations and they don't require building permits ... It was retiling, painting, wallpapering. It's like her line of work — decorative. I'm not aware of any rooms that were combined."

And what of the basement remodeling noted in the New York Magazine article?

"Again, the key work is decorative," Schwartz wrote in an email. "Window treatments."

Maskiel said that if the basement were remodeled as reported, a building permit would be needed because it would expand the house's living space.

He said it took six months "of chasing and threatening" in 2012 to induce Lee to apply for a permit for the installation of the shed and gazebo — work valued at $11,000.

"I got no response from her people," Maskiel said. "I finally spoke with his (Cuomo's) people. They sat down with me and said, 'yes, yes, yes.' Then they didn't get back to me. I finally sent a violation and got a response. Finally, Larry Schwartz got in touch with me."

New Castle Assessor Philip Platz said the shed and gazebo project did not raise the property's assessment because it didn't increase the home's value. He said he would investigate why the improvements were not listed in the town's electronic record for the property.

Assessors say it's a judgment call as to whether improvements listed on a building permit add taxable value to a home, especially if the work is done during a housing market decline, which could leave the property under-assessed. Some projects may also add no value to the home.

That was Platz's determination in 2012, after the Clintons completed a $150,000 project that included renovation of their master bedroom and structural work required for installation of a wider window. Platz said he didn't inspect the house when the work was finished, and isn't sure the Secret Service would allow such an inspection.

"I would have to look into it," Platz said. "I don't know if I'm allowed on their property."

In 2001 and 2002, the Clintons obtained permits for $226,000 worth of work, including installation of a swimming pool, a kitchen renovation and the additions of a gym and library to the carriage house. As a result of the improvements, the tax assessment on the five-bedroom Dutch colonial, which sits on 1.1 acres, was increased by 9 percent and their property taxes rose to reflect the change.

The Journal News obtained the permits under the Freedom of Information Act, after initially being denied by Town Clerk Mary Deems, who argued that disclosing documents relating to building projects at the Clinton and Lee-Cuomo homes would be an "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" and "endanger the life or safety" of people living at the homes. The town released the documents after The Journal News appealed the ruling to the New Castle Town Board.

When the Clintons paid $1.7 million for their home in 1999, it was assessed as if it were worth just $1 million — a very good deal for the former U.S. president and his wife, who is a likely candidate in the 2016 presidential election. Fifteen years later, after investing $376,000 in improvements, the property is assessed as if it is worth $1.8 million. The assessment record, however, does not include the living space in what the Clintons refer to as the carriage house, which was improved with the gym and library in 2002.

The building is listed as a "barn" on assessment records.

Platz, the town assessor, said the carriage house improvements could add value to the property.

"I'd have to look into it," he said. "If it's a big barn with nothing in it, the value would be different than if it has a kitchen and bathroom and bedrooms."

"Like other homeowners in the community, the Clintons received a building permit, did their improvements, and pay the tax bills the town assesses each year," said Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Bill Clinton.

Lee met Cuomo in the Hamptons three years before she bought the New Castle property in 2008. At the time, Cuomo was going through his divorce from Bedford resident Kerry Kennedy. By 2009, Cuomo had registered to vote at the 4 Bittersweet Lane address, according to state records.

A leading real estate broker in Chappaqua said that the home's value could be as high as $1.5 million — 60 percent more than the value at which it is taxed.

Barry Graziano, brokerage manager at Houlihan Lawrence's Chappaqua office, estimated that Lily Pond would be worth between $993,000 and $1.3 million depending on its condition. The value could be boosted by as much as 15 percent — to $1.5 million, because it was remodeled by Lee, a celebrity, and is inhabited by New York's first family, he said.

"Market value is what people are willing to pay," said Graziano. "There could be a 15 percent premium because of who lives there."

He said the Clintons' home, assessed as if it was worth $1.8 million, would fetch between $2.3 million and $2.8 million in today's market, between 28 percent and 56 percent more than its current taxable value.

Another public official, whose home improvements did not result in assessment increases, is Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Cuomo in November's governor's race.

In 2011, Astorino obtained a building permit for $10,000 worth of work to his already-finished basement at 281 Pythian Ave. in Hawthorne. A drop ceiling was installed, along with a half-bathroom. The four-bedroom house has two baths, 1,518 square feet of living space and sits on a quarter-acre lot.

The property, assessed at $606,000, was purchased by Astorino for $705,000 in 2004. Town Assessor James Timmings said the assessment was raised significantly under the home's previous owner.

"Assessment is all about equality," he said. "Whenever a project is done, we review it, based on its contributory value."

Astorino said he obtained the building permits to make sure there were no repercussions.

"I wanted to make sure everything came out right," he said. "A problem with the project was the last thing I needed."

DWILSON3@LoHud.com

Twitter.com/davidmckay415

Findings

• The New Castle building inspector says Gov. Andrew Cuomo's girlfriend, Sandra Lee, needed building permits for her home renovations at 4 Bittersweet Lane.

• The six-bedroom Lee-Cuomo home on three acres, called Lily Pond, is assessed as if it's worth $936,000. A local Realtor says it could fetch as much as $1.5 million on the open market.

• Bill and Hillary Clinton took out building permits for renovations at their home at 15 Old House Lane in New Castle. Their assessment rose for renovations valued at $226,000, but the town did not raise their assessment for renovations valued at $150,000 that were completed in 2011.

• Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino obtained a building permit for a $10,000 renovation project at his home in Mount Pleasant, which is assessed for $606,000. The town assessor said it didn't increase the home's value, so his assessment didn't rise.

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