REMARKS
Council Member Justin Brannan opens Finance Committee hearing on property records and taxes
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Council Member Justin Brannan, chair of the Finance Committee, opens a hearing on bills and a resolution related to the Department of Finance's administration of real property records and taxes. He emphasizes the importance of protecting homeowners from deed theft and ensuring they receive eligible tax breaks, particularly in light of the ongoing housing crisis.
- The hearing continues work from the Home Preservation and Debt Resolution Reform Act
- Three items sponsored by Council Member Nurse will be discussed: Intro 782-A, Intro 783, and Resolution 327
- Brannan highlights the committee's commitment to ongoing reform in property tax and lien issues
Justin Brannan
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Thank you, sergeant.
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Okay.
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Good morning, and welcome to today's finance committee hearing.
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I'm council member Justin Brannan.
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I have the privilege of chairing the committee on finance.
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I wanna recognize that we've been joined this morning by council members Nurse and Carr, and we have council member Moya on Zoom.
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Today, the committee will hold hold a public hearing to consider a number of bills and a resolution related to the Department of Finance Administration of real property records and taxes, 2 primary administrative responsibilities that directly affect the rights and livelihood of real property owners and the families who call those properties home.
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This hearing continues the work that the council undertook with the Home Preservation and Debt Resolution Reform Act.
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That bill put in place a number of reforms to ensure homeowners who are behind on their taxes and water bills would have realist sorry, will would have realistic paths to resolving their delinquency status and safeguard their homes from predatory actors.
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We've seen that for many of our homeowners, the threat of losing their homes due to deed theft intensifies when the property is behind on tax bills.
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In prior hearings this session, the council committees have heard troubling testimony of thieves who prey on seniors and target black and brown homeowners as well as properties encumber encumbered by liens.
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Can't forget that these problems exist against the backdrop of an ongoing housing crisis in our city.
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It's for these very reasons that I'm particularly interested today in discussing the ways that the Department of Finance does or can leverage its outreach and recording responsibilities to help New Yorkers, particularly those at greatest risk of losing their homes, to ensure that they receive all the tax breaks that they're eligible for and afforded as much protection from deed theft as we can reasonably provide.
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I look forward to hearing feedback on how legislation considered today could support this objective and promote security and stability for homeowners, their families, and their communities.
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3 of the items we'll hear about today are prime sponsored by my good friend, council member Nurse, proposed intro number 782 a, which relates to outreach to property owners subject to municipal taxes, intro 783, which relates to the public recording of tax liens, and and resolution 327, which would call on the state to adopt legislation giving real property tax owners the benefit of retroactive application tax exemptions.
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This is all a continuation of our promise when we did, meaningful lien reform last year, that we weren't done, and that we were gonna continue, keeping our promise to, to homeowners.
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So I'm now gonna turn it over to council member Nurse for her remarks on this legislation.