New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was put under pressure by state lawmakers earlier this week with regard to capping property tax rates in the city.
According to The Real Deal, de Blasio traveled to Albany to protest cuts in the new state budget. Instead, he found himself playing defense as he faced lawmakers who pressed him into limiting property tax increase to two percent annually. This limit applies to the other parts of the state.
"People are being bludgeoned by rising property taxes," stated Sen. Tony Avella, a Queens Democrat. NYC's property values just crossed the $1 trillion mark.
Beginning July 1, property-tax revenues are set to increase 5.8 percent to $23.8 billion in the next fiscal year. That is $3.5 billion more than the city would get if it had the two percent property-tax limit, state lawmakers argued.
The Republican-led Senate passed a measure pressing the 2 percent limit in New York City on Tuesday. But the Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, was not able to get on board.
The mayor said that cuts of $1 billion to $3 billion would cripple the city's budget, and would like his administration to have the right to set its own tax rate. "There's no scenario I can envision where we would want to tie our hands in terms or our ability to maintain the standard of living of the people of New York City and the safety of the people of New York City," de Blasio testified.
While the NYC has the 43 percent of the state population, generates 57 percent of state revenue, De Blasio noted. He added that while his administration has no plan to increase taxes, he'll dispute any effort to "tie our hands."
"That would be a very dangerous path for New York City," he said. He also said that at his city budget proposal endorses a city spending increase of less than 1 percent.
