A Queens councilman today called on Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Finance to immediately reassess Big Apple homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy following Monday’s Post report that revealed thousands of affected property owners now face tax hikes.
“These homes have already been severely flooded – they shouldn’t be flooded with paperwork now,” said Councilman Peter Vallone, who is running for Queens Borough President.
“It is wrong for the city to force people that have already lost so much to go through an arduous appeals process just to receive a fair outcome. There must be records of the damage to specific homes at this point, and the city should reassess these properties immediately.”
Among the parts of Queens most heavily hit by Sandy were the Rockaways and Howard Beach.
Vallone also praised Council Speaker Christine Quinn for scheduling a joint-council-committee emergency oversight hearing Feb. 26 to investigate the shocking tax hikes to homeowners in hard-hit neighborhoods.
Although the city’s Web site says the assessments reflect property values as of January 5 – more than two months after Sandy struck — the assessments were made prior to the storm because they are part of a capped, five-year state formula for setting assessment levels.
Many local real estate brokers say property values in Big Apple neighborhoods affected by Sandy — such as Manhattan Beach and Coney Island in Brooklyn, the Rockaways and parts of Staten Island — have fallen due to storm damage and because prospective buyers are now leery of living in high-risk hurricane evacuation zones.
Finance Department spokesperson Owen Stone said, “As the councilman knows, we are required by state law to release tentative assessments in January, and as we have said since the storm hit, we will physically inspect damaged homes to ensure their final assessments are correct when released in May.”
Property owners who oppose the hikes have until March 15 to appeal to the city Tax Commission before rates are finalized in May.
Stone also said the deadline to apply for the Finance Department’s new Hurricane Sandy Property Tax Relief program has now been extended a month to March 15.