City Hall – The New York City Council preserved last year’s 7% property tax cut and the $400 rebate in passing the 2009 fiscal year budget.  In April, Council Members Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) and James Vacca (D-Bronx) gathered the support of nineteen of their colleagues in the Council to send a message that raising property taxes was out of the question.

“This was a very difficult budget for the City but the same economic factors that are causing projected deficits next year are hitting New Yorkers in their pockets right now,” said Felder. “We sent a message that property taxes are off limits, and that message got through.  Now we need to think about next year and figure out how to keep the hike off the table then.”

“Preserving property tax relief for New York’s struggling middle class was a make-or-break issue for me this budget year ― that’s why Council Member Felder and I wrote to the mayor in April to urge him to resist the quick fix of higher taxes,” said Vacca. “I hear stories every day from homeowners and tenants who are being forced to make painful decisions they never thought they’d have to make, who are racking up debts they’ll never be able to pay off. Meanwhile, food and gas prices continue to set new records and the rate of foreclosures continues to climb. Hiking property taxes by 7% would have simply poured salt in the wound.”

In addition to sending a clear message to the Mayor, Felder and Vacca co-wrote an OPED in the New York Sun regarding the necessity to stop any property tax increases.  The OPED, “Make New York Less Taxing,” ran on April 24, 2008.  The 2009 fiscal year begins today.