Politics & Government

City Council Will Hold Hearing On Property Tax Assessments On May 2

Elected Officials, Civic Leaders Say City's Calculation Method for Co-ops and Condos is 'Flawed'

The City Council will hold a public hearing on real property tax assessment increases on May 2 following a recent meeting during which the legislative body’s co-ops and condominiums caucus discussed ways to save money for shareholders.

Councilman Mark Weprin, D-Oakland Gardens, met this week with the Council’s Co-op and Condo Caucus, which includes Council members Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone, and Peter Koo, R-Flushing, to strategize how to combat the city Department of Finance’s assessments.

“It’s clear that the basis of the new calculation method is flawed and that the Department of Finance has to modify it,” Weprin said. “Saying that market values are up 50 or 150 percent flies in the face of the reality of the current real estate market.”

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The legislative body will hold public hearings on the matter on May 2 in Council chambers, but a time has not yet been set.

Weprin said the city’s current system increases market values at a time when real property sales prices are flat. A number of co-op shareholders and condo owners are seniors with fixed incomes, he said.

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Warren Schreiber, president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, said he would likely attend the Council hearings.

“Our co-ops and condos are one of the last bastions of middle class housing in New York State,” he said. “Parts of Queens have been singled out for double and triple digit increases. It’s selective taxation.”

Last month, state Sens. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, and Toby Stavisky, D-Flushing, held a rally in Bayside to protest the real property tax assessment increases.

Stavisky has since introduced legislation to reclassify co-op and condo units from class two properties, which is regarded under tax law as income-producing real estate, to a class one designation.

“We need to cap the tax on co-ops and condos at six percent,” said Schreiber, referring to the city’s tax designation for single-family homes. “It would be the fair thing to do and the right thing to do. It would ease the burden on our shareholders.”

State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, has co-sponsored Stavisky’s bill in the Legislature’s lower chamber.

In early March, Finance Commissioner David Frankel agreed to a deal to cap year-to-year assessment increases at 50 percent.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Bayside-Douglaston