Relates to the determination of adjusted base proportions in special assessing units which are cities for the fiscal year 2010

3 Co-sponsors

• Sheldon Silver
• Herman D. Farrell
• Vanessa Gibson

27 Multi-sponsors

• Peter Abbate
• Jonathan Bing
• James F. Brennan
• Ann-Margaret Carrozza
• William Colton
• Vivian Cook
• Marcos Crespo
• Michael Cusick
• Steven Cymbrowitz
• Michael DenDekker
• Andrew Hevesi
• Dov Hikind
• Rhoda Jacobs
• Micah Kellner
• Rory Lancman
• Joseph Lentol
• Margaret Markey
• Nettie Mayersohn
• Joan Millman
• Catherine Nolan
• N. Nick Perry
• Audrey Pheffer
• Peter Rivera
• Linda Rosenthal
• William Scarborough
• Helene Weinstein
• Keith L.T. Wright

BILL NUMBER:A8895

Title of bill

An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to the determination of adjusted base proportions in special assessing units which are cities for the fiscal year 2010

Purpose

To extend the expiration date of the New York City commercial rent reduction and sales tax exemption for areas in lower Manhattan that are due to expire this year.

Summary of provisions

This bill would amend section 1803-a of the Real Property Tax Law to cap the maximum class growth rate at zero percent for fiscal year 2010

Justification

State law requires New York City to adopt class shares based on rates calculated by the State Board of Real Property Services (SBRPS) in order to distribute the tax levy among the four classes of real property. This year the State Board's class equalization rates would cause the tax burden on property tax class one, comprised of one-, two-, and three-family homes; and property tax class two, comprised of multi-family co-operative, condominium and rental apartments, to increase dramatically.

This bill is designed to provide relief for the residential property tax classes one and two. The "uncapped" current base proportions of class one and class two would grow by 23.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, from fiscal year 2009, under the State Board's calculations. Currently, State law provides that the current base proportion of any one class may not exceed the adjusted base proportion for that class from the prior year by more than five percent. This legislation would adjust that rule, for one year only, to cap the maximum class growth at 0.0 percent for New York City. The effect of this change would be to reduce the amount by which the current base proportions for classes one and two are allowed to grow, resulting in an estimated tax rate increase of 1.8 percent for class one and 1.4 percent for class two. This would result in citywide savings of $177 for a typical owner of a class one single family home, and $167 for a typical owner of a co-operative apartment. Owners of rental buildings will also see savings of $91 per unit on average.

Failure to enact this legislation would leave the City Council no option but to adopt the SBRPS formula for establishing class shares. In that case, the estimated tax rate increases for class one would be 6.9 percent and 4.8 percent for class two. This increase would cause significant rises in the tax bills for residential homeowners and renters. The tax rate increases for classes one and two, resulting from SBRPS procedures, is avoidable only through passage of this legislation.

Legislative history

New Bill

Effective date

Immediately.