Image credit: City of New York, Office of the Comptroller.

Comptroller calls for an expansion of property tax relief programs in the City. On September 6, 2018, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer issued a report detailing property tax increases in the City from 2005 to 2016 and their effect on households at different income levels. The report highlights the dramatic impact that these increases have had, particularly on households with incomes below $50,000 and the inability of existing property tax relief programs to ease the burden of taxpayers at this income level. The report shows how the City tax relief programs fare in comparison to other states that offer tax benefit programs, specifically Maryland and Washington D.C, where benefits are higher and more expansive. The report is a call to policy makers and the recently established NYC Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform to re-evaluate the impact of property tax increases and the ineffectiveness of existing tax benefit programs in order to turn New York City’s tax system from a regressive one to a progressive one. To read CityLand’s prior coverage on NYC Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform, click here (more…)

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer. Image credit: Office of the New York City Comptroller

Comptroller’s office analyzes other sources of data, concluding retail vacancy is citywide problem. On September 25, 2019, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer released a report regarding New York City’s retail vacancy crisis. Comptroller Stringer’s report is intended to fill a void in unexplored data from City Planning’s August 8, 2019, analysis of the same topic.

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One of the buildings designated by the Department of Finance as a primarily residential Class 1 property. Image credit: Office of the New York City Comptroller

The audit report reveals that the misclassification of 140 properties has deprived the City of $1.7 million annually in lost property tax revenue. On February 18, 2016, the Office of the NYC Comptroller publicized the results from its audit of the New York City Department of Finance.  The audit sought to investigate whether the Department of Finance had implemented procedures that adequately safeguard against the misclassification of Brooklyn property sites. The Comptroller’s Office and DOF ultimately seem to differ on the definition of “adequate.”

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