Owners of Deferiet paper mill say they can't pay back taxes

DEFERIET — Edward A. Palmer said he and his business partner can't pay the $497,201 owed in back taxes and penalties to prevent the county from foreclosing on the former paper mill property.

That doesn't mean the Syracuse developer isn't willing to sink some money into the 240-acre site.

"We're going to make an attempt to do right by the structure, the village of Deferiet and the county," he said. "What I'm intending to do is to complete some structural demolition and turn it over as a safe parcel to the county."

Mr. Palmer, who co-owns the site with Gary Spring, said he'll make the offer just once to all parties involved.

"We're not making money from this proposition," he said. "But I'll have my reputation intact."

Trustees would rather have an owner who could pay the taxes, since the six-parcel site consisted of about a quarter of the village's taxable base.

Deferiet Mayor Robert J. Foster said if the county forecloses on the property and takes title, that won't help the village at all.

"The village doesn't want much to do with it because we don't want the property," he said. "It's too much of a hassle."

Mr. Foster had hoped the Army would take over the site as a training center, but has not heard from Fort Drum representatives in more than a month.

Julie A. Cupernall, a Fort Drum spokeswoman, said the Army is still in the planning stages of an agreement to rent the mill site. She would not speculate on what the Army would do if the county foreclosed on the property.

Army officials expressed interest in the site last December because its abandoned buildings and open space would be ideal for urban warfare training.

David J. Paulsen, the county's attorney, said the county could sell, lease or "do pretty much anything" with the site if it acquired it in a foreclosure proceeding. The county could start proceedings now, but the attorney said officials have chosen not to because they don't yet have a plan for the property.

Mr. Paulsen said Mr. Palmer's company, Deferiet Development, last paid taxes on the property in 2005. The company acquired the site from Newstech NY in January 2005.

Mr. Palmer said he and Mr. Spring believed, before acquiring the site, that they would be eligible for Empire Development Zone breaks that would help defray or eliminate tax costs. The company, he claimed, also was waylaid by an unfavorable appraisal that hiked its tax obligation.

"It's cost prohibitive to maintain the site," he said.

Times staff writers Kara Clark and Sarah Rivette contributed to this report.