Bill that provides seniors with tax
passed in the City Council
BY BILL PARRY
Senior citizens across Queens living on a fixed
income stand to receive some relief from
their property taxes and other outstand-ing
debts through legislation that the City
Council passed at the end of January.
The legislation — introduced by Councilman Daniel
Dromm, who chairs on the Council’s Finance Com-mittee
— establishes three new types of payment
agreement plans to homeowners who earn less than
$58,400 so they can afford the property taxes and
avoid being included in a lien sale. The proposal will
be available to owners of one- to three-family homes
and condominiums, where such a home is their pri-mary
residence.
Nearly 17,000 Queens residents currently enrolled
in the Senior Citizen Homeowner Exemption, which
cuts property taxes by up to 50 percent, could benefit
from the new bill.
relief from property taxes
“Thousands of low-income homeowners struggling
to make ends meet will be able to keep their homes
thanks to my legislation,” Dromm said. “This effort rec-ognizes
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that many New Yorkers fall on hard times and
need a helping hand; that includes our homeowners.
When enacted, this legislation will provide homeown-ers
who are unable to pay their property taxes with
affordable payment plans, including for the first time
the option to defer payment in several cases, most
notably seniors.”
In Fiscal Year 2018, almost one in every two home-owners
who entered into payment plans couldn’t
afford to keep up with them, putting them at greater
risk for inclusion in the lien sale. These new flexible
and affordable payment plans were needed to ad-dress
that issue. This is the first property tax deferral
and/or income-based payment plan program created
by the city.
Existing plans do not account for ability to pay.
One of the payment agreement plans would give
low-income seniors the option to defer some or all
of their property tax payments until the property is
sold or otherwise transferred, at which point the
city would be paid the taxes is is owed from the
proceeds of the sale.
“As property taxes and the cost of living continue
to increase in New York, many senior and low-income
homeowners struggle to make ends meet, and at times
have to choose between paying property taxes, putting
food on the table or buying medicine and healthcare,”
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said. “These
New Yorkers face difficulties to pay their property
taxes and it makes it harder for them to remain in
their homes and in their communities. Affordability
is one of the biggest issues we are facing as a city,
and this bill will help New Yorkers stay in their homes
and stay in their communities. This creative program
will assist homeowners to come out with a payment
plan to ensure they don’t lose the home they worked
so hard for.”
Photo via Getty Images
Real Estate
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