Rossi Chronicles Side B: An overdue tax bill

The investment company where Dino Rossi works owes $20,000 in property taxes on land in Everett and that amount may rise in the next few days.

Taxes did not get paid in October 2009 on commercial property on Broadway Avenue owned by Coast Equity Partners of Everett. Rossi joined the firm as a minority partner early last year which was two years after the firm coordinated the site’s purchase by a group of investors.

“It definitely is nothing Dino is involved in,” Tom Hoban, chief executive officer of Coast Equity Partners, said Wednesday

Rossi could not be reached for comment.

The property known as the Gateway Building consists of nine parcels in the 3800 block of Broadway Avenue..

Three tenants, including a motorcycle dealership, rented the property and they all went out of business last year, Hoban said. Under a four-year lease signed in November 2007, the tenants were responsible for paying the property taxes, he said.

“It’s just come to my attention,” he said of the nonpayment. ”We’re looking into it now. Their businesses failed so we are now working with the partners in that building ownership to sort things out.”

According to records of the Snohomish County Assessor’s Office, Coast Equity Partners, as the owners, owe $18,069.09 in taxes plus $2,524.37 in interest and penalties for a total tax bill of $20,555.76. The next property tax payment is due at the end of the month and if it is missed, the overdue sum will grow.

This information originally came to light through the sleuthing of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. The political operation recently dispatched a team of researchers into Snohomish County to comb through mounds of court and assessor records in search of potential political dirt on Rossi and Coast Equity Partners.

What they find is sure to be compiled and added to the DSCC’s special website targeting Rossi.