What's happening
This bill requires New York City to publicly report and hold hearings on any proposed property tax increases, including clear comparisons to previous years.
Why it matters
Increases transparency. by requiring New York City to explain and compare proposed property tax hikes to both the previous fiscal year and the prior ten years, offering residents a clearer picture of tax trends over time.
Forces public accountability. by mandating widely publicized notices and multiple public hearings across the city before any property tax increase above 2% is adopted, ensuring residents can give feedback and understand the impact.
Clarifies the financial impact on property owners. by requiring clear, side-by-side examples showing how proposed tax rates would affect typical tax bills versus if taxes had not increased, helping residents gauge personal cost.
Strengthens legislative and public oversight. by obligating the city to submit detailed tax reports to both the State Legislature and City Council, and by overriding conflicting open meetings laws to guarantee robust public participation.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Tax Increase Transparency
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to cities 1
- Referred to cities 1
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
411
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities 1
AN ACT relating to enacting the New York City truth in budgeting act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York City truth in budgeting act".
§ 2. Definitions. As used in this act:
(a) "Property tax levy" shall mean the overall property tax raised by the city of New York in a given fiscal year.
(b) "Assuming zero growth" shall mean the presumption that the property tax levy has not increased relative to the prior fiscal year.
(c) "Proposed tax rates" shall mean the tax rates of each of the property tax classes as proposed in the budget of the city of New York.
(d) "City" shall mean the city of New York.
§ 3. The city of New York shall levy a tax on real estate no greater than an amount equal to two percent of the amount raised by such tax in the prior fiscal year unless such city meets the requirements of this section.
(a) The city shall issue a report to both the state legislature and the New York city council which contains, within the first five pages, the words "PROPOSED TAX INCREASE" in bold upper-case font no smaller than 18 point, followed by the fiscal year for which such report applies. Such report shall then detail the growth of the amount of the property tax levy as proposed in the city's budget, the growth of the assessed value of each of the property tax classes as such classes are defined in section 1802 of the real property tax law, and the growth of the proposed tax rates of each property tax class, both compared to the prior fiscal year and within the context of the prior ten fiscal years. Such report shall include a clear and concise comparison of the tax rate
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01277-01-5
for each property tax class assuming zero growth in the property tax levy to the tax rates for each property tax class as proposed in such city's budget.
(i) Such report shall be delivered to the legislature and the city council prior to the dates of the hearings described in subdivision (c) of this section and shall be made publicly available on the city's website.
(ii) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to prohibit the city from including any additional information related to property taxes in such report.
(b) Such city shall publish a notice in no less than three newspapers of general circulation within the city with the words "PROPOSED TAX INCREASE" in bold upper-case font no smaller than 18 point. Such notice shall compare the proposed tax rates with the tax rates for each of the property tax classes assuming zero growth in the property tax levy. Such notice shall compare, for each of the property tax classes, the impact that such city's proposed tax rates would have on a property owner's final property tax bill to the impact on such bill of a tax rate which assumes zero growth in the property tax levy, using examples of properties in each of the property tax classes which are fictionalized but representative of taxable assessed values in each property tax class.
(c) Such notice shall further include the dates, times and locations of the public hearings described in subdivision (d) of this section on such city's proposed tax rates.
(i) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to prohibit the city from including any additional information related to property taxes in such notice.
(ii) It is the intent of the legislature that such notice be published in both electronic and print format in newspapers of general interest and readership to the population of such city.
(d) Prior to the adoption of the city's budget and subsequent to the publication of the notice described in subdivision (b) of this section, such city shall hold a series of public hearings on the proposed tax increases described in such notice. Such hearings shall take place at hours of convenience to the general public and at geographically diverse locations throughout such city. Such hearings shall be subject to all provisions of this state's open meetings law. Notwithstanding section 110 of the public officers law, however, where there is a conflict between the provisions of this act and the provisions of the open meetings law this act shall prevail.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to the fiscal year next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act relating to enacting the New York City truth in budgeting act
Purpose or general idea of bill
To provide transparency when the City of New York increases property taxes by keeping tax rates flat while property values rise
Summary of provisions
Section one provides that this act shall be known as the "New York City truth in budgeting act."
Read the full memo (640 words)
Section two of the bill sets definitions.
Section three of the bill outlines a process by which the City of New York shall create a public notice and a series of public hearings on all property tax increases which exceed two percent.
Section four sets the effective date.
Justification
Property taxes form the fiscal backbone of local government in New York. Less cyclical than sales or income taxes, property taxes allow municipal governments to provide critical services such as homelessness prevention, firefighting, and public education over both the short and long term. Yet the property tax levy in New York City, which more than tripled from $8.4 billion in 2000 to $29.6 billion in 2019, has become less a stable source of income and more a windfall profitmaker. This has in turn led to such enormous growth of the New York City budget ($20 billion in six years) that it is difficult to know where to make cuts as we navigate potential recessions.
The property tax levy has ballooned thanks to New York City's booming housing market and the corresponding appreciation of real estate values. This fortuitous growth has allowed officials to only slightly increase or keep flat the tax rates for each property tax class and claim that they have not increased property taxes - yet if that were trueäthe levy would not have tripled in the past six years. In practice, the NYC Department of Finance both assesses the market value of all properties in the city and recommends tax rates for each type of property to the City Council. The Council then approves these rates as part of the annu- al budget process each June. For the average taxpayer, there is no tran- sparency about the way their property taxes continue to be raised year after year. Nor do the residents of New York City benefit from the same 2% property tax cap found in the rest of the state that helps clamp down growth in the levy.
This bill will mandate that, for any increase in the property tax levy above 2%, the city must provide full disclosure on the difference between the proposed budget and one that achieves zero growth of the levy by offsetting rising property values with a reduction in the tax rate. hearings throughout the city before the City Council adopts the final budget. Such "truth in budgeting" laws are already in place in several other states such as Maryland, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia, and have been recommended in the past by the Tax Equity Now coalition which sued the city and state in 2017 for a property tax system it called racially discriminatory. New York City's homeowners, landlords, and small businesses are already struggling to make ends meet. They deserve real and immediate relief for a property tax burden that has become too heavy to bear. Absent that, the very least we can provide them is the same transparency and opportunity to weigh in on tax increases that their upstate counterparts enjoy.
Prior legislative history
2024: S21 - Referred to Cities 1
2023: S21 - Referred to Cities 1
2022: S513 - Referred to Cities 1
2021: S513 - Referred to Cities 1
2020: S8644 - Referred to Rules
Fiscal implications
To be determined
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to the fiscal year next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.