6 North Shore Towers Courier n July 2015 PAC Report THE WAITING GAME Albany Continues to Debate and Residents Continue to Wait BY FELICE HANNAH, BOARD MEMBER AND CHAIRPERSON POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE State Senator Tony Avella addressed residents of North Shore Towers at a Round Table Meeting hosted by the North Shore Towers Political Action Committee on Thursday, June 4, 2015. Avella addressed the concerns of residents about tax exemptions and tax abatements. The Senator is fighting to extend the J-51 program that expires this month along with the 421-a. “If you live in a Coop or Condo chances are that you’ve heard more about the 421-a, which is a tax exemption, than you’ve heard about the J-51 tax abatement program,” Avella said. Under the J-51 program landlords are allowed to make major improvements, such as replacing windows, and according to the Senator, “this becomes a credit against taxes over a period of fourteen years.” Senator Avella introduced a J-51 extender bill from a 3 -year to a 5-year term and is proposing an increase in valuation of apartments from the current cap of $30,000 to $50,000. He is also “working on a companion bill in the New York State Senate.” Stay tuned. I will stay on top of this legislation and keep you informed. Photos by Julie Weissman State Senator Tony Avela SOUNDS ABSURD? Fair Market Valuation vs. Fictional Rental Properties=Coop/Condo Hypothetical Valuations BY FELICE HANNAH, BOARD MEMBER AND CHAIRPERSON POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE North Shore Towers Political Action Committee hosted a seminar on coops and condos property taxation and assessment. The presenter, Bob Friedrich, President of the Council of Coop and Condo (PCCC) shared with the audience little known facts about how coops and condos are really assessed by the Department of Finance (DOF). Bob Friedrich explained how the DOF figures out the property valuation to apply the tax rate for coops and condos. Residential coops in New York State are primarily located in New York City. Coops in upstate New York are generally commercial businesses/properties and are taxed as such. In 2011, Mr. Friedrich discovered that New York City coops were being taxed as commercial properties. He was able to get this changed… somewhat. The DOF then generated the fictional imaginary buyer convoluted formula that it uses every January for assessing residential coops and condos. Mr. Freidrich outlined the formula used by the DOF in an article he published in the Flushing Times, February 2013. He wrote, “ The DOF creates a hypothetical investment with a false rate of return, on a fictional rental building that an imaginary person would buy at a made up price, based on profits it never earned and calculated on fabricated income and expense reports never produced.” Much clearer, right? Mr. Friedrich stated that unfair property taxation of coops and condos has been a long time practice of the DOF. The PCCC is advocating to have residential coop and condo properties assessed similarly as residential single-family homeowners and to change the arbitrary imaginary formula currently used. This would significantly lower tax rates for owners of residential coops and condos. The PCCC plans to meet with Mayor de Blasio, who wants to keep affordable housing in New York City, to discuss how to keep coops and condos affordable housing for middle class residential owners. Photo by Leo Tujak Resident asks the Senator about the reduced services at city libraries
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