14 JUNE 17, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Queens leaders voice concern over commission’s initial
recommendations to reform NYC property tax system
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Private citizens, community
leaders and elected officials
from every corner of Queens
voiced their concerns on the initial
recommendations made by the New
York City Advisory Commission on
Property Tax Reform on June 9.
In early January of 2020, the Commission
had released a preliminary
report with 10 recommendations
to alleviate the burden New Yorkers
face from high property taxes.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson formed
the Commission in 2018 to reform
the property tax system without
reducing the revenue used to fund
essential city services.
The report includes the following
preliminary recommendations:
• The commission recommends
moving co-ops, condominiums and
rental buildings with up to 10 units
into a new residential class along with
1-3 family homes. The property tax system
would continue to consist of four
classes of property: Residential, large
rentals, utilities, and commercial.
• The commission recommends using
a sales-based methodology to value
all properties in the residential class.
• The commission recommends
assessing every property in the residential
class at its full market value.
• The commission recommends that
annual market value changes in the
new residential-class be phased in
over five years at a rate of 20 percent
per year, and that Assessed Value
Growth Caps should be eliminated.
• The commission recommends
creating a partial homestead exemption
for primary resident owners with
income below a certain threshold.
The exemption would be available to
all eligible primary resident owners
in the residential class and would
replace the current Co-op and Condo
Tax Abatement.
• The commission recommends
creating a circuit breaker within
the property tax system to lower the
property tax burden on low-income
primary resident owners, based on the
ratio of property tax paid to income.
• The commission recommends
replacing the current class share
system with a system that prioritizes
predictable and transparent tax rates
for property owners. The new system
would freeze the relationship of tax
rates among the tax classes for fiveyear
periods, after which time the
City would conduct a mandated study
to analyze if adjustments need to be
made to maintain consistency in the
share of taxes relative to fair market
value borne by each tax class.
• The commission recommends that
current valuation methods should be
maintained for properties not in the
new residential class (rental buildings
with more than 10 units, utilities,
and commercial).
• The commission recommends a
gradual transition to the new system
for current owners, with an immediate
transition into the new system
whenever a property in the new
residential class is sold.
• The commission recommends
instituting comprehensive reviews
of the property tax system every 10
years.
Councilman Barry Grodenchik,
representing District 23 in eastern
Queens, commended the Commission
for their work on this issue, but
said much more needs to be done.
“When we talk about equality and
equity in New York City,” Grodenchik
said, “one thing that perhaps
is the most inequitable for those
struggling to maintain a household
is the property tax system. The
taxes on people of color are wildly
outlandish.”
Warren Schreiber, president of
Bay Terrace Cooperative Section 1,
thought the commission’s recommendations
were ineffective, raising
more questions than answers.
“We can’t determine the impact of
the Commission’s proposed recommendations
on housing in the cooperative
form without additional
information that includes actual
numbers,” Schreiber said.
Frank Taylor, a Community Board
3 member, spoke about the high, yet
ineffective taxes in East Elmhurst.
“We have been overtaxed over
here for decades,” Taylor said. “This
is a situation that is untenable; we
pay such high taxes, and we can’t
even get our garbage picked up on
time. We need to pay for things that
are needed for the community; we
don’t even have a hospital.”
Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-
Powers, representing District 31 in
southeast Queens, said homeownership
is the key to the American
dream. She felt that the report was
well-intentioned but hoped the recommendations
don’t miss the mark.
“Even the best of intentions can
have unintended consequences,”
Photo via nyc.gov
Brooks-Powers said. “I also want
to be sure these recommendations
don’t put an undue financial burden
on property owners.”
Councilman Robert Holden, a representative
of District 30, said this
issue was of personal importance
to him and spoke about his experience
co-sponsoring bills in the City
Council that focused on alleviating
property tax burdens.
Holden expressed his concern
with the fourth recommendation
and the proposition of eliminating
all assed valued growth caps.
“While I understand the commission’s
goals of having tax assessments
better reflect real property
values, eliminating all growth caps
could drive down the value of the
homes for current owners,” Holden
said.
The commission will soon consider
their final recommendations
after holding virtual public hearings
for residents from the Bronx
on June 14 and Manhattan on June
16. Hearings were held for Staten
Island and Brooklyn residents in
May.
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