SENATOR KLEIN CALLS FOR EVEN MORE RELIEF FOR NEW YORK CITY HOMEOWNERS AND RENTERS

  Plan Would Expand Upon Governor’s Proposed Property Tax Circuit Breaker

Today, Independent Democratic Conference Leader Senator Jeff Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester) called for broadening tax relief for New York City homeowners and renters that would otherwise not be included in the original property tax circuit breaker first proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. In order to provide more meaningful relief to New York City households, Klein unveiled three proposals seeking to enhance the current circuit breaker plan that would: 1) factor in an individual or families’ city Personal Income Tax (PIT); 2) increase the maximum benefit to city renters and 3) increase the percent of annual rent that is attributed to property taxes to up to 20%.  

Under this new plan more than 375,000 additional New York City residents would likely benefit that would otherwise not receive any tax relief under the Governor’s proposal.

Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein said: “New York City renters and homeowners shoulder one of the highest tax burdens in New York State. We need to provide relief for more New York City households in a way that reflects the reality of what they are paying for a roof over their heads. This plan puts more money back in the pockets of renters and homeowners with a sensible, realistic approach tailored to the real needs of those who live in New York City and creates a more level playing field between the NYC renters and homeowners.”

New York City, unlike other areas throughout the state, has a more diverse tax mix but draws from a broader range of other taxes to pay for local services. By limiting the circuit breaker to property taxes alone city taxpayers receive less tax relief than their fellow New Yorkers elsewhere across the state. In addition, renters, which constitute a majority of New York City households, would not receive their fair share under the current proposal.

The Klein plan seeks to create parity between renters and homeowners by increasing the maximum benefit from $750 to $2,000. In addition, Klein would increase the percent of annual rent that is attributed to property taxes to 20% thereby meeting the general standard of housing affordability threshold - where a tenant would have to pay more than 30% of his/her income in rent to qualify.

For example, under the Klein plan a renter earning approximately $82,000 and living in New York City with a monthly rent of $2,300 would see a benefit of about $600, whereas under the Governor’s plan he/she would receive nothing. Similarly, a homeowner making $80,000 and paying property taxes around $4,700 would receive a benefit of approximately $250, whereas under the Governor’s plan they would not qualify.

	RENTER		HOUSEHOLD
INCOME	$82,000	INCOME	$80,000
MONTHLY RENT	$2,335	Prop. Taxes	$4,750
PIT	$547	PIT	$547
Governor’s Plan		Governor’s Plan
% of income threshold to obtain benefit (6%)	$4,920	% of income threshold to obtain benefit (6%)	$4,800
Annual rent attributed to Prop. Tax (13.75%)	$3,853
Overage (Prop. Tax in excess of 6%)	$0	Overage (Prop. Tax in excess of 6%)	$0
Benefit	$0	Benefit	$0
IDC Plan		IDC Plan
% of income threshold to obtain benefit (6%)	$4,920	% of income threshold to obtain benefit (6%)	$4,800
Annual rent attributed to prop. Tax (20%)	$5604
PIT included	$547	PIT included	$547
Total tax burden	$6,151	Total tax burden	$5,297
Overage (Total taxes in excess of 6%)		Overage (total taxes in excess of 6%)	$497
Benefit (48%)	$591	Benefit (50%)	$249

STATEMENT OF NEW YORK CITY COMPTROLLER SCOTT M. STRINGER ON MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO’S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

 

    Mayor Bill de Blasio was right to focus on the critical issue of affordable housing today. New Yorkers from all walks of life need to be able to put down roots in our city, and that is becoming increasingly difficult as rents rise and wages stay flat for too many working families.

I look forward to learning more specifics of the Mayor’s plan, including issues related to affordability thresholds, subsidies like 421a, and infrastructure investments that will have to be made to support the planned growth. The success of the Mayor’s blueprint will depend on leveraging each of these tools to build up new communities and strengthen existing ones.

Many of the Mayor’s proposals are initiatives I have long supported, such as raising the minimum wage and expanding Bus Rapid Transit and ferry service throughout the boroughs. I also strongly support the Mayor’s push to end homelessness for military veterans in our City and look forward to working with the Administration to advance a policy agenda that attacks the City’s homelessness crisis.

In the coming days, I will be reviewing the details of the Mayor’s proposals as presented in the Preliminary FY16 budget.

Statement Of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara On The Convictions Of Malcolm Smith And Vincent Tabone

  “As the jury unanimously found, the give-and-take of the political process should not be the giving and taking of bribes, which is what Malcolm Smith and Vincent Tabone tried to make it. Smith gave, and Tabone took, a $25,000 cash bribe to permit Smith to run for New York City Mayor as a Republican. Smith and Tabone were not alone in this scheme – Smith also bribed Daniel Halloran, another Republican Party official. And sadly, this was just one of many pockets of corruption this Office has uncovered in New York, which has become the ‘show me the money’ state. It should not be asking too much to expect public officials at least to obey the law. This Office will continue the vigorous prosecution of political corruption until every public official understands that violating the public trust will likely land you in prison.”

New Assembly Speaker Heastie Appoints Four Member Ethics Search Committee

    In a move to listen to those assembly members and others who have called for ethics reform new Speaker Carl Heastie has named a four member assembly search committee to find names to head an Assembly Ethics Committee 

    The four assembly members named to the search committee are Assembly members Democrats Todd Kaminsky of Long Island (also a former assistant U,S, Attorney), Shelley Mayer of Yonkers, Michele Titus of Queens, and  Republican Janey Duprey from Plattsburg. 

   The charge of the search committee is to come up with six candidates to be an executive director to head a new office of ethics and compliance. The final choice will be up to Speaker Heastie, who has also pledged to seek ways of caping outside income and changing the way per diems are disbursed.

NYC Comptroller supportive of City legislation that would provide attorneys to New Yorkers facing eviction or foreclosures

 

    On Wednesday, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer toured the Bronx County Housing Court and held a press availability with members of Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA) at which he announced that he was supportive of City legislation that would provide attorneys to New Yorkers facing eviction or foreclosures.

“When a tenant walks into this building they’re already at a tremendous disadvantage. If it weren’t for CASA and other groups, they would have absolutely no opportunity to get the justice and the representation they deserve. This must change,” Comptroller Stringer said.

There were more housing cases filed in the Bronx Housing Court than in any other borough in 2013. According to the New York City Civil Courts, there are nearly 300,000 cases filed in housing court every year. Statistics show that nearly 30,000 families were evicted in 2013, highlighting the need for more information and services for tenants across the five boroughs.

Following his tour, Comptroller Stringer also commented on the impediments placed before those who come to the court, including the lack of signage at the facility. 

“One of the things that I saw on the tour today was pretty depressing. In a city and in a borough where the Latino population continues to grow, there was not one bilingual sign in the whole place. I couldn’t find one. You walk in, there’s a big picture of lady justice, but there’s no big picture of the rules of housing court to tell people what their rights are and what they should look out for,” Stringer said.

State Senator Gustavo Rivera - Black History Month Celebration

Guests include - 

Assemblyman Michael Blake, Assemblywoman Latoya Joiner, Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, and more. 

CRESPO TO HEAD ASSEMBLY LATINO TASK FORCE

  Assemblyman Marcos Crespo to Lead

Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force

Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo releases the following statement on his selection,

by Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, to Chair the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force

   Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo, the Chair of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, today released the following statement on his new leadership appointment.

“Today, I am most grateful to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for the trust he has placed in me through my appointment to lead the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force.  Through a period that covers my entire life, New York has moved slowly toward policies that both respect the contributions of our newest residents and ease their transition into a new society.  However, much work remains unfinished and new problems need the immediate attention of policymakers at all levels of our government.

I am the son of Puerto Rican and Peruvian parents; one an American citizen by birth the other through immigration and naturalization.  Their hardships and hard work has given me the opportunity to serve our State and nation as an elected official.  The values they instilled in me are the cornerstone of my work as a public official for the people of New York State.

It is with humbleness and eagerness that I accept my post as Chairman of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force. 

Our nation is in the midst of long overdue immigration reform; Latino children are now the largest group of children living in poverty in the nation; and economic hardships continue to plague our communities.  As the state with the third largest Latino population, New York can ill afford to ignore these issues.

The past decade has witnessed thousands of families torn apart, wholesale civil rights violations, and systematic attempts to stigmatize entire communities.  The past decade has also left many Latino families behind as the collapse of the housing market wiped out billions of dollars of combined wealth from households, increased unemployment and underemployment to staggering numbers, while stagnant wages erode their ability to pay for their basic needs such as housing, proper nutrition, access to health care, and financing of their children’s college education.

The tremendous growth of Latino communities in New York has brought with it substantial economic gains for our State but considerable challenges as well.  The members of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force are committed to tackling these problems.  I am confident that we have the talent and determination to achieve the greater good for all our communities and look forward to our collaborative efforts on all these fronts.

Working with all our colleagues in the New York State Legislature and under the leadership of Speaker Heastie, I am overwhelmingly optimistic that the road ahead will create great opportunities for all the families, children and communities that call the Empire State their home.

Editor's Note:

Could this mean that Assemblyman Crespo will be the new Bronx Democratic County Leader, or is this being given to Assemblyman Crespo because he is not going to be named the new county leader. 

Scientists in 18-Month Project Gather DNA Throughout Transit System to Identify Germs, Study Urban Microbiology

  This is from today's Wall Street Journal about an 18 month study of gathering information on the  germs throughout the NYC subway system. 

   A swab was rubbed back and forth on a hand rail of a number 6 train to collect any DNA on the hand rail, and to determine what type of bacteria what was found may be.  In 18 months of scouring the entire system germs that can cause bubonic plague uptown, meningitis in midtown, stomach trouble in the financial district and antibiotic-resistant infections throughout the boroughs were found.   This could be a mirror of the people themselves who ride the subway system.

  DNA was gathered from turnstiles, ticket kiosks, railings and benches in a transit system shared by 5.5 million riders every day. More than 10 billion fragments of biochemical code—and sorted it by supercomputer were found at 446 subway stations. 15,152 types of life-forms. were found to be in the subway system. 

  For the entire Wall Street Journal article including an interactive map many Manhattan subway stations click here.