The tax deadline in Burke was 5 p.m. Friday, and no payment from the resort, the town’s largest taxpayer, arrived.
The tax bill for the properties — including the recently opened 116-room Burke Mountain Hotel and Conference Center as well as a home belonging to Ariel Quiros, one the hotel’s developers — is $440,991, municipal records show.
That includes $32,666 added on as part of an 8 percent penalty for missing Friday’s deadline, the documents state.
New bills, reflecting the penalties, have already been mailed, a town official said Monday.
“They were sent out Saturday,” said Priscilla Aldrich, Burke’s town clerk, treasurer and delinquent tax collector.
Michael Goldberg, the court appointed receiver, said he expects to pay the taxes in Jay and Burke with proceeds from the Citibank settlement, which he plans to receive between Nov. 17 and Nov. 20.
“I have some money, but I don’t want to drain my account on taxes,” he said Monday. “I can’t afford to do that. I have to keep a reserve.”
Goldberg said he will still need approval from the federal judge in Miami who appointed him as the receiver to make the tax payments once the money from the settlement arrives.
He also expects to ask officials in both towns to waive the late fees.
“We’ll request a hearing and seek to waive the 8 percent and give them the legal reasons why we’re entitled to,” he said.
News of the missed tax payment in Burke comes of the heels of missed tax payments in the town of Jay last month of about $2 million for properties under the control of the receivership in that community, including the Hotel Jay as well as a waterpark and condos.
Property taxes in Jay were due Oct. 14.
Goldberg said last month, when asked about the missed tax payment in Jay, that he intended to use money from a recently approved settlement with Citibank to cover that expense.
Goldberg has said he expected to receive money from that settlement sometime this month. He also said he planned to talk to Jay officials regarding the late fees.
Aldrich said she has not heard from Goldberg about the tax payment or the late fees, and no request for a hearing before the board that decides whether to waive late fees has been made.
In Burke, the town takes in about $5 million in tax revenue a year, she said. After the 5 p.m. Friday deadline, the town had nearly $800,000 in tax revenue delinquent, including the $440,991 for the properties associated with Quiros and Burke Mountain, Aldrich said.
In addition to the 8 percent penalty, late taxpayers in Burke face interest of 1 percent for three months, followed by a rate of 1.5 percent for each month after that, she said.
Federal and state lawsuits filed in April against Stenger, a Newport resident, and Quiros, a Miami businessman, allege the two men misused $200 million raised from immigrant investors through the federal EB-5 visa program.
The two men were involved in developing several properties in the Northeast Kingdom, including building hotels at Jay Peak and Burke Mountain.
Stenger is the former CEO and president at Jay Peak. Quiros is the owner of Q Resorts, a company that includes Jay Peak.
Quiros allegedly used immigrant investor funds to buy Burke Mountain in 2013 for $7 million, renaming the resort Q Burke.
In the weeks after the court seizure of Burke Mountain, Goldberg and a management company removed signs throughout the property emblazoned with Quiros’ signature Q.
The newly opened hotel in Burke is one of the assets that will eventually be sold to pay those who are owed money.
Goldberg has said he intended to start the sales process on the hotel sometime in the late winter or early spring and hopes to conclude a deal next summer.
In addition to using some of the Citibank settlement to pay property tax bills, Goldberg has said some of that money will go to make partial payments to contractors who worked on projects. That includes about $4 million owed for work done at the hotel at Burke Mountain.
