A Bay Ridge councilman wants to put more money — $400 more — in your wallet than Mayor Bloomberg.
Hizzoner unveiled a property tax cut in his state of the city speech last week — but Councilman Vince Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) slammed it as weak.
The Mayor’s plan calls for a one-year, five-percent reduction in property taxes and a $400 rebate for all property owners.
“The mayor’s plan has no real relief because property owners will just be getting back the extra money they’re about to pay in increased assessments,” said Gentile.
Property tax rates are determined by an annual city assessment of individual property values — if the value increases, so does the property owner’s taxes.
In Gentile’s plan, owners of one-, two-and three-family homes, co-ops and condos would get both the tax cut and a $1,200 rebate.
The money would come from a forecasted $1.5-billion surplus in the retiree health benefits trust fund.
“I think the momentum and the sentiment is there in the Council to make this happen,” said Gentile.
The city’s Department of Finance would not comment on Gentile’s proposal.
But while the councilman and Bloomberg may bicker, their proposals are fairly similar, according to Doug Turetsky, the spokesman for the Independent Budget Office.
“There’s a common feature in both of their proposals — neither of them provide property tax relief to the bulk of New York City households, which is renters,” said Turetsky.
“To some degree, the landlord is passing some portion of his or her [tax] costs to the tenant.
And, just because taxes go down one year, it’s not likely that the landlord will pass that reduction along.”
So for renters, at least, there’s no relief in sight.
