Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums

PROPERTY TAX ABATEMENT EXTENDER INTRODUCED
IN ASSEMBLY (A.10688) & SENATE (S.7714)

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has introduced A.10688 to extend the property tax abatement for home owners in New York City cooperatives and condominiums to June 30, 2012. Senator Frank Padavan has introduced necessary companion legislation– S. 7714 in the State Senate.

YOUR help is now needed to ask Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council for a HOME RULE message to Albany supporting passage of A.10688/S.7714. We also ask you to write to your State representatives to ask them to support these bills.

For the abatement program to continue seamlessly into the tax bills for July, 2008, A.10688/S.7714 will have to have been signed into law prior to mid June when the NYC Department of Finance begins preparing our tax bills.

Five sample letters are available for download (see links below), which we ask you to quickly send on behalf of your cooperative or condominium. There is a letter to Mayor Bloomberg; one to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and one each for your own City Council representative and your Assembly and Senate representatives in Albany.

Please send these as soon as possible; please use your own words and give solid details about your own situation.

A Brief History of the Abatement Program
The Action Committee for Reasonable Real Estate Taxes was founded in 1990to work for fair and equitable property taxes for all New York City taxpayers .

In 1993, a blue-ribbon commission appointed by Mayor Dinkins acknowledged that homeowners in cooperatives and condominiums pay more than their fair share of property taxes.

In 1996, Mayor Giuliani and the City Council together called for tax reform. A three-year property tax abatement was instituted for homeowners in cooperatives and condominiums, and the City was to produce a long term plan for tax fairness. In August, 1999, September 2001 and May 2004, the abatement program was extended for two, then three then four years until June 30, 2008. In the case of the last extender, in 2004, the legislation was passed early enough to provide for a seamless transition (prior extenders were not signed into law until after the start of the fiscal year, so full taxes were collected in July and October, with adjustments made on January and April bills). With an outpouring of support for A.10688/S.7714 and for a Home Rule Message, the Action Committee hopes for early passage of this important extender legislation.

Provision would allow housing cooperatives to determine commercial rents
without sacrificing tax benefits to shareholders

WASHINGTON - Thanks to the efforts of Congressman Charles B. Rangel, hundreds of housing cooperatives boards in New York City will now have greater flexibility in the rent they charge commercial tenants.

Included in a recently passed Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 (HR 3648) is a measure that allows co-ops to determine commercial rents without the fear that the additional income would disqualify owners from deducting their proportionate share of the building's mortgage interest and taxes. Under current law, co-ops are limited to charging commercial tenants rents that do not total more than 20 percent of the building's total income from rents and cooperator maintenance payments.

Rangel was happy to see that Congress could come together to resolve such a longstanding issue.

"I am extremely pleased that the tax code will treat people who live in co-operative housing the same way as homeowners and condo owners are treated when it comes to their renting out part of their property," said Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "I hope that this will provide relief from for some from the high housing costs in New York."

Co-ops would be allowed to pass through applicable tax benefits if they meet one of three requirements:

Rangel thanked a number of groups, including the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, for their support and assistance in helping to tackle this issue.

"By working with advocates and industry groups, we were able to craft legislation that made sense to both sides of the political aisle," said Rangel. "Thanks to the hard work of many, the federal government will be able to provide some relief to families as they struggle with the rising living costs."

The co-op provision included in HR 3648 is part of a larger piece of legislation that was crafted as part of a response to the current subprime mortgage crisis. The legislation would provide relief by permanently excluding debt forgiven under these circumstances from tax liability. It would also help would-be homeowners secure their investments through an extension of the tax deduction for private mortgage insurance, and would ease restrictions for qualifying as housing cooperative corporations.

Amended by the Senate last week, The Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 is expected to be signed by President Bush later this week.

NOTE: The above descriptions of the tests are brief summaries and that the complete text of the bill and professionals should be consulted before decisions are made. Click here to view complete text.

On December 4, 2007, Mayor Bloomberg announced the launch of Notify NYC, a program that will enable registered New Yorkers to receive timely emergency-related messages via email, text, and telephone. Information about significant emergencies in any of the four pilot areas — Lower Manhattan, the northeast Bronx, southwest Staten Island, and the Rockaways — will be transmitted to those who subscribe to this service.

Starting December 4 those interested in receiving emergency updates can register at NYC.gov. Beginning Monday, December 10, the City will start sending emergency-related messages.

CNYC THANKS ALL THOSE WHO HELPED MAKE THE
27th Annual HOUSING CONFERENCE A SUCCESS!

At the Conference Convocation: CNYC Board Vice President Margaret Walsh, Mark Shernicoff, Executive Director Mary Ann Rothman, Chairman Stuart Saft, and
Vice President Arthur Weinstein.

PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON FOR CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS AND REPORTS FROM SELECTED WORKSHOPS.

Charles E. Snyder Receives
National Association of Housing Cooperatives’
Highest Honor

NCB, a leading financial services company, is proud to announce that Charles E. Snyder, it’s President and CEO was named this year’s recipient of The Jerry Voorhis Memorial Award, the National Association of Housing Cooperatives’ (NAHC) most prestigious honor. The award was presented during the NAHC’s annual conference held in Miami, Florida last month.

PROPERTY TAX PAYMENT COMPROMISE

It has come to the attention of the Department of Finance, that increased assessments have caused some buildings to cross the threshhold from being able to pay property taxes quarterly, to being billed recently for semi-annual payment.

HELP IS AT HAND FOR THESE BUILDINGS. Any building that qualified last year for quarterly tax payments, can continue to do so this year (despite the bill recently received for payment of half of the year's property taxes). The Department of Finance will bill these buildings in September for a second quarterly payment due on October 1st.

This announcement is made at the request of the Department of Finance; it is also found on the Department of Finance website.

INCENTIVES TO HELP YOU BE ENERGY $MART

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is encouraging residents to replace old, inefficient through-the-wall (TTW) or window room air conditioning units (window ACs) with units that meet or exceed ENERGY STAR guidelines.

Incentives are available for each unit replaced--$35 for window ACs and $100 for TTW units.

For multifamily buildings replacing 10 units or more, bulk purchasing is available from participating Be Cool Program retail partners--and the Be Cool Program will coordinate the pick-up and recycling of the old units.

This program is only available to residences and multifamily buildings receiving electric service from ConEdison.

In addition, the Be Cool Program provides information on how to reduce energy use and shift some of their summer energy load to off-peak hours (morning or evening).

For more information on the Be Cool Program, log onto www.GetEnergySmart.org or call 1-877-NYSMART.

CNYC & REBNY PUBLISH CO-OP BOARD ADMISSIONS GUIDE

CNYC and the Real Estate Board of New York have published a new guide designed to explain the anti-discrimination requirements that all Boards must follow. Included are recommendations on how a Board should conduct the application process.

Click to download the guide (PDF Format).

NYC BAR ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES MEDIATION PROGRAM

Mediation is a fairly informal, totally voluntary approach to settling disputes instead of going to court. Most (70-80%) cases brought to mediation settle, and the process is quicker and cheaper than litigation. The Association of the Bar of the City of New York has initiated a mediation program which is described in its new brochure, "Mediate (Don't Litigate)". The brochure can be found at the New York Bar Association website at www.nycbar.org.

Please click to download the brochure (PDF Format).

During the just ended '05-'06 heating season, B20 was at a premium and cost ~0.15- 0.45/gallon more than regular #2. That cost margin has eroded, with B20 now at or only slightly (0.04 - 0.06/gal) more than #2. What's new and exciting is the recently announced income tax credit, passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Pataki on May 15th: for the next season (July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007), home and apartment heating using biofuel will gain the user .01 per percent of biofuel, so each gallon of B20 will generate 0.20/gallon against the State corporate franchise tax or personal income tax.

Note: this includes co-ops and condos.

We're seeking apartment buildings and ask interested owners, managers and Board officers to contact either Dick Koral (Superintendents Technical Association, 718-552-1161 ( rkoral@citytech.cuny.edu) or John Nettleton at Cornell at 212-340-2937 ( jsn10@cornell.edu). Each building will set a contract with the fuel dealer handling B20, and we'll do site visits prior to start of using of B20. Technical aspects will be overseen by Dr. C.R. Krishna of Brookhaven National Labs, who has extensive experience on a successful B20 project with 'Teddy' Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill home in Oyster Bay, LI.

Note: The Superintendents Technical Association (STA) is a non-profit organization administered by Apartment House Institute, Division of Continuing Education of New York City College of Technology. Dick Koral is the director of the Institute and Secretary-Treasurer of the Association. The bio-fuel project is funded by New York State Energy Research & Development Authority.

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To submit your building's newsletter for the Gallery, please send a PDF version to info@cnyc.coop, or mail a hard copy of the newsletter to: