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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Candice Ficalora, President of Local 1757 of DC 37, on Staffing Needs for NYC Assessors
5:56:29
ยท
3 min
Candice Ficalora, President of Local 1757 of DC 37, testified about the understaffing of assessors in the New York City Department of Finance and Tax Commission. She emphasized the need for additional funding to fill vacant positions, particularly at higher levels, to address property tax inequities and capture physical changes in property assessments.
- The Department of Finance has 83 districts needing assessors but only 112 staff, with vacancies in supervisory and higher-level positions.
- An estimated $2,800,000 is needed to fulfill all positions in the Department of Finance, and an additional $530,000 for the Tax Commission.
- Proper staffing is crucial for addressing property tax inequities and capturing physical changes in property assessments, as per New York State real property tax law section 1805.
Candice Ficalora
5:56:29
Good afternoon Chair Brannan, the members of the Finance Committee, and the members of the City Council.
5:56:34
My name is Candace Ficolora.
5:56:36
I am the president of Local seventeen fifty seven of DC thirty seven, and we represent New York City Assessors, Appraisers, and assistant city assessors.
5:56:47
The majority of our assessors work at the New York City Department of Finance and the New York City Tax Commission.
5:56:53
So, currently at New York City Department of Finance, we have a total of 83 districts that need assessors, right?
5:57:03
And, we have a total of 112 assessors as a staff.
5:57:07
So, seems like we're actually overstaffed, but we aren't.
5:57:11
We're understaffed because of those 83 districts, that's non supervisory roles, and that's not including assessors in different units or different areas, right?
5:57:23
So, of the vacancies at Department of Finance, we have different levels of assessors.
5:57:28
It's level one, level two, level 3A.
5:57:31
Then level 3B includes supervising assessor, a supervisory role.
5:57:36
So, that's not a part of the 83.
5:57:38
Of our vacancies at Department of Finance were vacant 12 supervisors, right?
5:57:44
And currently, Department of Finance, they went ahead and they posted for two supervisory positions of the 12 that are vacant, and they only promoted one to that position.
5:57:54
So, why does this matter, right?
5:57:55
We would need additional funding in order to fill these positions because right now the supervisors are overwhelmed with work and then it just you know, trickles down to the entry level assessor at level one.
5:58:08
So, currently we have an overstaff of level one assessors where we have vacancy of the supervisors, vacancy of level 3A which is the more advanced, and vacancy of the level two which is the intermediate.
5:58:23
This matters at Department of Finance because the council member that was just here recently asked the commissioner of finance about property tax inequity, right?
5:58:33
So, we have certain areas of New York City that are considered less valuable, I don't like to use that word, but in terms of market value and assessed value versus other areas of New York City, but they're paying more taxes, right?
5:58:47
So, why is this happening?
5:58:48
There's something in New York State real property tax law.
5:58:51
It's section eighteen oh five.
5:58:53
It's called maximum permissible assessment, meaning that the assessed values are capped.
5:58:58
The way that we can uncap those assessed values are by capturing physicals, which are major alterations, new buildings, and demolitions.
5:59:07
We need assessors in order to do that, and we need assessors in those higher positions level two, level three a, and level three b in order to do so.
5:59:16
So, for instance, just as an example, in Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which is undergoing a lot, right, it's vacant right now.
5:59:24
It's a level three a district and it's vacant, but then in Brooklyn we have a level one district that has three level one assessors assigned to it.
5:59:32
So, we need a greater budget for level three b, level three a, level two for Department of Finance.
5:59:41
We tried to do the math on this, and we got approximately an additional $2,800,000 to fulfill all of those positions.
5:59:49
And then also within the tax commission, which is the Office of Administrative Trials for Tax Appeals, they have five vacancies and it would be an additional 530,000 towards them.
6:00:03
I am going to submit written testimony to you.
6:00:06
Will be through the council.
6:00:09
Thank you.
Justin Brannan
6:00:09
Thank you very much.