Private plane crash near Jamaica kills New York property tycoon, wife

Larry Glazer (Credit: Facebook)

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Friday September 5, 2014 – A single engined private plane owned by Rochester, New York real estate developer, Larry Glazer, has crashed north of Jamaica.

The Socata TBM-700 took off from Rochester, New York, around 8:30 a.m. eastern time and was supposed to land in Naples, Florida, shortly after 2 p.m. eastern time.

The US television network to CBS News  is reporting that “Maj. Basil Jarrett of the Jamaican Defense Force confirmed that the plane went down Friday about 14 miles northeast of Port Antonio. Jarrett says the military has sent two helicopters to the site as well as search and rescue teams and a fixed wing aircraft to investigate”.

A Socata TBM 700 in flight. (Image Copyright Socata/EADS).

A NORAD spokesperson told the Associated Press those on board the plane fell unconscious due to hypoxia.

(Credit: Gloablnews.ca)

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “a New York county official has confirmed that New York state real estate developer Larry Glazer and his wife, Jane, were among those killed”. They were both 68 years old.

CBS affiliate WROC tweeted a statement from Mindy, Rick and Ken Glazer saying they were “devastated by the tragic and sudden loss of our parents.

“We are devastated by the tragic and sudden loss of our parents, Jane and Larry Glazer.” #ROC pic.twitter.com/zWGgysr8kT

— Rachel Barnhart (@rachbarnhart) September 5, 2014

According to the New York Daily news, Glazer’s company owns or manages nearly 13 million square feet of real estate space, including some of the city’s most iconic buildings — the Midtown Tower, Xerox Square, and the Bausch and Lomb building. An online flight tracker website, flightaware.com, shows an errant plane south of Florida, but lists it as a Socata TBM-900 with a tail number as N900KN. That is the same tail number on the plane registered to Glazer, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

(Credit: flightaware)

There as an immediate outpouring of condolences on Twitter following the confirmation that Larry and Jane Glazer were on board the flight. It is not clear who was at the controls of the time of the crash.

I am shocked by the loss of both Larry and Jane Glazer. They were both great business and community leaders and this is a crushing blow . — Robert Duffy (@LtGovDuffyNY) September 5, 2014

Larry and Jane Glazer were synonymous with Rochester. We have lost two generous and incredible friends. http://t.co/xK14yfstlo

— Louise Slaughter (@louiseslaughter) September 5, 2014

The Glazer family confirms Larry and Jane Glazer have died in plane crash. They were pillars of the community. Such a giant loss for #ROC. — Rachel Barnhart (@rachbarnhart) September 5, 2014

The Huffingting Post reported that “Larry Glazer was the CEO of Buckingham Properties, a Rochester, New York real estate company which owns buildings including Midtown Tower and Xerox Square, the Rochester City Newspaper reported in July”.

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Private plane crash near Jamaica kills New York property tycoon, wife

Incomplete applications hampering KSAC"s property tax relief programe

News

Claudienne EdwardsThursday, September 12, 2013

APPROXIMATELY 66 per cent of the 286 applications made to the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation for discretionary property tax relief since April 1 are incomplete, Kingston Mayor Angela Brown Burke has disclosed.Mayor Brown Burke told Tuesday’s council meeting that since the new property tax increases took effect, only 97 of the applications have met the stipulated requirements. She said the KSAC has since contacted 148 of the affected individuals to request the additional information needed.“Let me remind individuals to make sure the following is properly filled out on the form: valuation number of property, tax payable and age of applicant. Please be mindlful also that the application form must be signed by the applicant and documentary proof of income provided,” the mayor said.She said that parish review committees have been reactivated to deal with the applications for special discretionary relief, particularly for seniors, pensioners and people with fixed incomes who are experiencing hardship.Meanwhile, investigations have been completed for 41 of the 97 applications that met the requirements and 20 have been placed before the committee for consideration. To date, only four applicants have been granted relief, the mayor said.Meanwhile, Brown Burke said that the number of traders licensing their businesses has increased significantly since the council’s trade licence drive started in 2011.“Last fiscal year, we were only able to collect $4.6 million up to the end of July. This is a whopping 87 per cent increase over the corresponding period,” she said.She said that the name-and-shame phase of the campaign would be starting soon.“Note that very soon we will be publishing the names of those traders who have so far refused to live up to their statutory obligations,” the mayor warned.BROWN BURKE… our aim is to improve efficiency and effectiveness

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Incomplete applications hampering KSAC"s property tax relief programe

Property tax collections said at 53% of $7.2-b target

TAX Administration Jamaica (TAJ) is reporting that, as at last month, it is half way to the $7.26-billion target for property tax collections set for this fiscal year, with some parishes recording high levels of compliance.

“Overall to date we are at 53 per cent of the $7.26 billion target at the end of August. For some of the parishes, like Kingston and St Andrew, they are at about 62 per cent, Portmore is at 60 per cent, Hanover is at a high of 60 per cent. You will find that St Ann’s Bay and Montego Bay they are at a high of 50 per cent,” property tax co-ordinator at the TAJ Sharon White told the weekly Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange.She, however, said rural parishes like Clarendon and St Thomas are at a low of 40 per cent.Calvert Thomas, senior director of the Revenue Enhancement and Resource Mobilisation Division in the Ministry of Local Government, said there was cautious optimism that the target figure would be met.“When you look at it, what we were expected to be at in August, as against what we have realised, it’s about 90 per cent, and in the scheme of things, if you are achieving that level of performance generally you would feel very good. To some extent we are satisfied, but we are cautious,” he told the Exchange.“The first three months were very good, we were exceeding what was projected, the pattern has changed now and between July and August we were almost flat in terms of our collections. The challenge we have is that although we are at 90 per cent of what we wanted to achieve, in terms of translating the remaining 10 per cent into dollar figures it is almost a $400-million difference that you are looking at.“So we need to recognise that, even though it’s high in terms of 90 per cent, the dollar figures are still significant and there is no way we can afford to allow that to increase; we still need now to be very proactive in terms of our collections,” Thomas pointed out.He said the push to collect property taxes this year in order to deliver services was even more critical, given the financial constraints being experienced at the central government level.“Previously, we got grant financing from central government to support any shortfall in relation to our payments for street lights, solid waste, fixing of our parochial road network, community services, and civil support. The fact that we have to move our collections from $2.8 billion last year to this massive figure of $7.26 billion speaks to the demand that is placed on us getting the revenues and providing services to our citizens,” Thomas said.“That is the connection we need to make for persons to recognise that even as we push for every cent that, is owed, it’s not because we are greedy, it’s an imperative we have to meet if we are to be able to provide our local services at a minimum,” he added, noting that the bill for street lighting facing the authority this year is in excess of $3 billion, not including arrears.“That is what we have to pay the Jamaica Public Service to keep those services going. All of that has to be paid from property tax dollars, plus all of the other services that are there,” he pointed out.In the meantime, he said of the target amount, some $2 billion represented arrears that the authority hoped to collect this year.He said a conservative estimate of the total stock of arrears, some of which might be “uncollectible”, could be around $5 billion to $6 billion, not including the amount for this fiscal year.There are 14 local authorities and 229 councils.Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) Property Tax Co-ordinator Sharon White addressing this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange. With her are Calvert Thomas, senior director of the Revenue Enhancement and Resource Mobilisation Division in the Ministry of Local Government, and Meris Haughton, director of communications at TAJ. (PHOTO: NAPTHALI JUNIOR)

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Property tax collections said at 53% of $7.2-b target

Now you can check your property tax arrears online

JAMAICA’S tax authorities have installed a new online feature designed to offer further convenience to persons paying property taxes.

According to Meris Haughton, director of communications at Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), the new feature should have been up and running Monday.“We have just put in place what we call a property tax online query which now allows persons to actually look up their obligation,” Haughton told reporters and editors at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange.Property owners, Haughton explained, can go online and check the status of their property, once they have the valuation number, “and that goes back seven years, so you can see what payments were made, whatever is outstanding”.Haughton and her colleague, Sharon White, property tax co-ordinator at TAJ, as well as Calvert Thomas, senior director of the Revenue Enhancement and Resource Mobilisation Division in the Ministry of Local Government, were guests at the Exchange where they discussed property tax collection and compliance.Haughton explained that the property tax online query service was introduced in an effort to assist persons who, during the peak property tax period between April and June, had complained that after going to the tax office they had to first check their status then go to a cashier to pay.“With this facility you can check your status before going to the tax office, print it, then go straight to a cashier at the tax office. Or you can just check your status, ensure that you have enough funds and then go straight to the cashier.” Haughton said.The new service adds to a number of other mechanisms already introduced by TAJ to make it easier for persons to pay property taxes.Haughton explained that property owners can now pay taxes at any of 29 tax offices TAJ operates across the island, regardless of where their property is located.“It wasn’t like that a few years ago,” she said, adding that the TAJ also offers what it calls an ‘out of office service’ which involves staff going into communities that are far from tax offices, and setting up an office in those areas to accommodate individuals.That service, White explained, started in August.“Since last month we have been going into communities where we realise that taxpayers have been having difficulty coming to us because of the cost of transportation,” White said.“We actually do it on a Saturday because sometimes, because of work, taxpayers can’t come to the tax office [during the week]. Last month we went to St Elizabeth. This month we will be going to Clarendon, St Ann, and Kingston — out at Harbour View,” White added.“That is what we are doing now; we’re not sitting in our office waiting on the taxpayers, we’re actually going to them,” she said.Tax Administration Jamaica’s director of communications Meris Haughton talks about the agency’s new online service at the Monday Exchange. (PHOTO: NAPHTALI JUNIOR)

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Now you can check your property tax arrears online