City Council Promises Co-op / Condo Tax-Cap Extension and Lower Taxes

"Thanks to the efforts of all who have been outspoken advocates on this issue over the past few months, the City Council and the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have agreed to negotiate a joint proposal for legislation to finally ensure tax fairness for co-ops and condos,"  City Councilman Mark Weprin told constituents yesterday (June 1). "The recommended changes in how [the Department of Finance] values co-ops and condos will go to the State Legislature, which I expect to take favorable action."

For the coming Fiscal Year 2012, the DOF on May 2 placed a 10 percent cap on tax-valuation, following highly public tax protests and an April 29 City Counsel hearing in which Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the department "has failed the taxpayers this year on all counts — and in so doing has undermined the public’s confidence in the City’s most important revenue source."

Now, said Weprin, "If the State Legislature does not act on the City's recommendations by next year, DOF will extend the general framework of the protections established this year for Fiscal Year 2013."

Review Underway

In addition, said Finance Committee chair Dominic Recchia (D-Queens) to the New York Post, "Co-ops and condos are going to be treated fairly. In the past, it's always up, up, up."  The review, which involves investigating tax valuations on the city's 364,893 co-ops and 144,622 condos, is scheduled to be completed by next year, the paper said.

That review comes in the wake of tax protests, covered in detail by Habitat, after several Queens condos and co-ops received preliminary tax-valuation increases of up to 147 percent, despite the city-wide average increase being in the single digits.

The 10 percent cap is a separate issue from the proposed two percent cap that the New York State Legislature is considering for property owners outside New York City.

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