please see this article. taxes back to 2007 level - so this is somewhere in yoru budget. meantime, get a very very good tax ceriototi lawyer:

Friday, December 19, 2008
$400 Property Tax Rebates Will be Sent by Dec. 31, 2008
The City is finally sending out the $400 property tax rebate checks which were meant to
be mailed in October 2008. You should have your check before December 31, 2008 (That
is the good news!)

The bad news is the City is raising property taxes 7% on January 1, 2009. (Oy gevalt!)

Technically, the City repealed a tax cut of 7% that had been set to expire in June 2009, so
your property taxes will go back to about what they had been in January 2007. (Confused
yet? Read the whole story below).

December 19, 2008 The New York Times
City Council Approves 7% Property Tax Increase
By DAVID W. CHEN
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's $1.2 billion property tax increase won approval from the
City Council on Thursday, raising homeowners' bills by 7 percent as the city grapples with
a worsening economy and disappearing revenue.

As a result of the 33-to-18 vote, annual tax bills will increase by hundreds or in some
cases thousands of dollars, effective Jan 1.

"Even though it won't be popular, New Yorkers will understand," Councilman Miguel
Martinez of Manhattan said in explaining his support for the tax hike. "Times are hard, and
we're asking everyone to pitch in."

Opponents warned that residents were already overtaxed. Since Mr. Bloomberg took
office, property taxes have increased by 18.5 percent.

"Today, the Council votes to take the bucket to the same old well and ask homeowners to
bear the brunt of a swelling budget among dwindling revenues," Councilman Simcha
Felder of Brooklyn said. He added, "I believe that is unacceptable and that will hurt all New
Yorkers in this difficult time."

The property tax increase comes as Gov. David A. Paterson is pushing more than 100 new
taxes and fees on items from downloaded music to nondiet sodas, and the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority is moving to impose fare and toll increases.

Manhattan homeowners who live in the most expensive co-ops will see their taxes go up
by anywhere from $854 to $1,307, according to the city's Independent Budget Office.
People who own single-family homes valued between $1 million and $1.5 million, outside
of Manhattan, can expect to pay an extra $464 per year. Taxes on more modest homes,
such as a condominium in Queens in the $300,000 to $400,000 range, would rise by
$111.

To help ease the pain, Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn announced that Mr. Bloomberg
had agreed to send homeowners the much-prized $400 rebate checks by the end of the
calendar year.

The mayor had tried to eliminate the checks this year, then delay their distribution, but
council members animatedly objected.

In addition, the Council approved an increase in the hotel tax from 5 percent to 5.875
percent per room, or about $3 a night. That change is expected to generate perhaps $80
million between March and the end of the next fiscal year, in June 2010.

Still, no one was under any illusions that the increased taxes would be the last financially
difficult decision in the foreseeable future.

Mr. Bloomberg, who in September ordered all city agencies to cut spending by 5 percent,
asked that they come up with an additional 7 percent in cuts by Dec. 22. And even with
those cuts, and the extra revenue from higher taxes, the city is still facing a budget deficit
of more than $1 billion in the next fiscal year.

The vote on Thursday — a close one by City Hall standards — was the latest political
victory for Mr. Bloomberg.

He had unveiled his budget proposals just two weeks after the most bruising political
battle in recent memory: the Council's approval of his bid to rewrite the city's term limits
law, allowing him to seek a third term.

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