Furious at the last-minute switch, small homeowners were in all-out revolt yesterday over Mayor Bloomberg‘s plan to rescind a $400 annual rebate.
City Councilman Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx), who has criticized the rebate, nevertheless argued that the city had no right to pull it at this late stage.
Payments had been scheduled to go out Oct. 1. Officials had claimed that the delay was caused by “address issues.”
In fact, callers to 311 as late as this week were being told the check would be in the mail.
But Bloomberg pulled the plug on the $256 million program Wednesday as part of $1.5 billion program of reductions.
One source said Councilman Dominic Recchia (D-Brooklyn), who helped pass the mayor’s term-limits extension bill, was especially upset because he had told his constituents the rebate had simply been delayed.
Some legislators wondered if the threat to end the rebate was meant to give the council something to restore while it passed a 7 percent property-tax hike, for $1.2 billion a year, also requested by the mayor.