Lawyers representing Syracuse University on Friday requested that a panel of judges in a New York appeals court reinstate the university’s full tax exemption for the Schine Student Center and strike down a local court ruling that upheld the partially revoked exemption.    If the request is granted, it would end a spat between the city and SU that has dragged on for three and a half years.  At issue in the spat is that university officials believe all of the Schine Student Center should be considered tax exempt. The city’s Department of Assessment has determined that about 9% of Schine Student Center should be taxed.  City officials last year won an initial case in Onondaga County Supreme Court, which upheld the revocation of the tax exemption.  The city and university’s yearslong legal battle is over what amounts to just shy of $62,000 each year — the city’s tax bill on the Schine Student Center.  On Friday, Barclay Damon attorney Zachary Shauf, representing SU, argued the exemption should have never been revoked because the center functions as a hub supporting students’ academic and social interest. The university maintains that the businesses within Schine, such as a Corelife Eatery and Dunkin coffee shop, are not franchises conducting their own business out of the university’s property but rather university-owned, university-staffed food options acquired for the express purpose of providing a supportive atmosphere for students. Shauf also argued that Onondaga County Supreme Court Judge Gerard Neri erroneously denied SU its day in court by citing a section of the state’s real property tax law that authorizes assessment boards to dismiss grievances when taxpayers willfully neglect or refuse to answer questions. No city attorneys appeared in court to oppose Shauf’s argument that the judge should find for the university. In a statement to Central Current, a city spokesperson said officials still hope the appeals court would uphold Neri’s decision.  University spokesperson Sarah Scalese in a statement said the university’s goal is to get “an outcome that recognizes both the university’s contributions and the legal framework governing the taxation of our student center, which serves as the hub of student life at Syracuse University.” The city first attempted to tax the university for a portion of the assessed value of Schine Student Center in 2022. At the time, the assessment office deemed $1.62 million of the building’s assessed value to be taxable.  The university has suffered a series of defeats in their quest to restore the exemption.  In October 2022, in a rejection of the assessment office’s decision, Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration asked the Common Council to overturn the revocation of the exemption. The council unanimously rejected the request.  SU in 2023 filed a grievance with the city’s Board of Assessment Review, asking the exemption to be restored. The board, entirely appointed by the city’s Common Council, denied the university’s ask. In April 2025, university lawyers in Onondaga County Supreme Court sued the city over the assessment. City lawyers in a response to the university said SU officials failed to provide key information — including expense statements, the cost of 2021 renovations to the Schine Student Center and more — to the Board of Assessment Review that would have helped determine whether Schine deserved a full exemption. After losing the case in Onondaga County court, SU appealed the ruling in New York’s Fourth Department Appellate Division. That prompted the hearing on Friday. A panel of judges will on April 24 issue their decision on SU’s request.  Concerns about SU’s tax status have abounded for years, especially among residents of the city’s East Side. Recent comments from Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens appear to have brought that brimming sentiment to a boil. After her State of the City address, Owens told a Central Current reporter that the city was encouraging SU to “build in your footprint.” She explained that the city understands the university’s contributions to the local economy, and expressed optimism that the university could slow its steady encroachment of city property, which pulls taxable property off the city’s tax rolls. Owens intensified her rhetoric at a recent town hall hosted by SU’s own Student Government Association, where the mayor declared SU needs to pay its fair share in taxes. Those comments were enough to prompt a defense from SU’s new Chancellor, Michael Haynie. The chancellor reminded the students in attendance that SU is the only tax-exempt property in the city to financially contribute through its services agreement with Syracuse. Owens has acknowledged this unique arrangement in past comments. “With more than half the property within Syracuse tax exempt, the Shared Services Agreement between Syracuse University and the City stands alone as the only case where an exempt institution voluntarily makes contributions of cash and services,” Owens said in a Q+A with syracuse.com. The post Syracuse University lawyers ask appellate judge to restore tax exemption to student center appeared first on Central Current. ...read more read less