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REMARKS
Purpose and objectives of the temporary task force on tax liens
0:01:24
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98 sec
Council Member Nurse explains the purpose of the temporary task force on tax liens, established by Local Law 82. The task force aims to review the current trust model for collecting delinquent property taxes and water bills, and explore potential reforms and alternatives.
- The task force was created to address concerns about transparency in the current trust model.
- It aims to improve efficiency, fairness, and transparency of the trust, reduce recidivism of delinquent properties, and explore leveraging properties for community and housing development.
- The task force is also charged with reviewing alternative models to the trust for improving outcomes.
Sandy Nurse
0:01:24
Despite all these reforms, one area where the council and administration were not able to engage as deeply on at the time was how we can improve what happens when an owner does not resolve their delinquency with the city and what alternatives to the trust model exists for recuperating those funds.
0:01:43
Currently, the city sells these debts to a trust created and controlled by the city.
0:01:48
The trust makes a final attempt to collect the debts on the properties, and if that fails, begins foreclosure proceedings.
0:01:56
In some ways, the trust model provides a degree of efficiency in collecting outstanding property and water charges when simply looking through a lens of recuperation.
0:02:06
However, despite the trust being created by the city, there is a large lack of transparency about how the trust operates, which does not allow for a deeper assessment on how effective it is ensuring all properties are returned to productive use and productive meaning providing housing or some other benefit to society.
0:02:28
To explore these concerns and improve outcomes, local law 82 established a temporary task force to review how the trust operates and explore reforms that could improve the efficiency, fairness, transparency of the trust, reduce recidivism of delinquent properties, and in recognition of the city's housing crisis, explore how properties that pass through the trust could be potentially leveraged for community and housing development and preservation programs.
0:02:56
In addition, the task force will review what alternative models to the trust could be used to improve on these outcomes.