Hundreds of petitions are filed in New York City each day throughout September and October challenging the city\u2019s property tax assessments. <\/p>\n
On one Thursday last month, there were more than 500 petitions filed in Manhattan alone, including from hotels, major retailers such as Macy\u2019s and Bloomingdale\u2019s, and property owners including the New York City Bar Association, the James Beard Foundation, and New York University. And thousands more have continued to roll in as petitioners scramble to meet an Oct. 24 filing deadline.<\/p>\n
The defendant in each, often written in all capital letters: THE TAX COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, AND THE COMMISSIONER OF FINANCE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.<\/p>\n
The filings are part of an annual song and dance for attorneys, the Tax Commission, the New York City Law Department, and the court system. There are nearly 300,000 or more open petitions\u2014including a handful dating back to the 1970s and petitions submitted over multiple years for the same lot\u2014that have been filed with the court, according to Tax Commission data. Nearly 200,000 of those were filed in the past five years, and more than 2,100 are awaiting trial. <\/p>\n
There are just four judges in the entire city to handle the thousands of cases that reach them\u2014and several other reasons for the city to slow-roll the process. <\/p>\n
\u201cTime goes by quickly, and you\u2019re dealing with owners who have enormous demands on them,\u201d said Robert Pollack of Marcus & Pollack LLP. Owners are \u201csitting there dying on the vine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assessments <\/p>\n
The city\u2019s Department of Finance calculates tax assessments for each parcel of property and publishes them every January. Property owners have until March to file an application seeking a correction\u2014typically a reduction\u2014to the assessment. If the commission hasn\u2019t held a hearing on a particular application or if an owner rejects the commission\u2019s offer, the owner has until Oct. 24 file what\u2019s known as an Article 7\u2014or tax certiorari\u2014petition with the court.<\/p>\n