Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Council Member Brannan questions Commissioner Niblack on lien sales and bit bonds
4:46:39
·
3 min
Council Member Justin Brannan questions Department of Finance Commissioner Preston Niblack about the recent lien sale, including the reduction in properties at risk and the handling of potential errors. The discussion then shifts to the mayor's proposal for bit bonds, with Niblack expressing caution and the need for thorough study.
- The initial list of properties at risk of lien sale totaled nearly $1.6 billion, which has since reduced to about $675 million.
- Commissioner Niblack assured that even after a lien is sold, it can be defected if issues like probate or ownership disputes arise.
- Regarding bit bonds, Niblack acknowledged it's outside their usual experience and emphasized the need for rigorous review to protect the city's credit rating.
Justin Brannan
4:46:39
Okay.
4:46:43
Let's talk about the lien sale.
4:46:45
The initial list of properties that were at risk of having their liens sold totals nearly $1,600,000,000 Since then, the most recent data that we received at the council shows that amount has shrunk to about $675,000,000 It's a change of slightly more than $900,000,000 Of that 900,000,000, how much in tax revenue was actually collected so far?
Preston Niblack
4:47:08
So as you know, there's a combination when liens are removed from the initial ninety day list before the sale, was for a combination of reasons.
4:47:18
It could include people come in and pay, people enter a payment plan, or they turn out not to be they shouldn't have been on the list because they received an exemption or they filed an easy exit application or they you know, there was some other error or reason why they shouldn't have been on the list.
4:47:35
So I don't we don't have solid numbers yet.
4:47:38
We will know better numbers by the June, a couple weeks after we after the final date.
4:47:45
And I'm more than happy to supply and update it for you as soon as we have those numbers.
Justin Brannan
4:47:50
So and since this is the first lien sale in years and there's a lot more properties than we typically see, And we've thankfully had additional funds to do greater outreach.
4:48:01
It's inevitable that some properties, that some owners will fall through the cracks.
4:48:05
So what is DOF, what will DOF do if we find out after a lien is sold that a property had deed fraud or tangled title issues?
Preston Niblack
4:48:15
Any property that even once a lien is sold, if they come to us and they say, hey, I'm in probate.
4:48:23
Hey, there's a dispute over the ownership, etcetera.
4:48:26
We will defect that lien.
4:48:28
We will take the lien out.
Brian Sarfo
4:48:30
Okay.
Justin Brannan
4:48:34
I wanna ask I'm asking everybody today notified about the bit bonds before the mayor announced it in Las Vegas.
Preston Niblack
4:48:43
Yes.
4:48:44
I heard about it.
Justin Brannan
4:48:45
But he didn't he didn't tell you about it before?
Preston Niblack
4:48:47
He did.
4:48:47
I spoke with him about it before.
Justin Brannan
4:48:49
And what do you think
Preston Niblack
4:48:50
of the idea?
4:48:52
You know, we're we're it's as I said to the mayor at the time, it's on the edge of sort of our experience here, and so it deserves a very thorough study.
4:49:01
And I know that this is really OMB's world along with the controller.
4:49:10
So it's really on those two entities now to review this proposal and try and understand exactly what it is that the benefits that we would get from it and proceed.
4:49:23
Obviously, we have a pretty rigorous framework in which we operate for issuing bonds and we have excellent credit and we don't want to harm that at all.
4:49:32
I'm sure that there will be a % due diligence done to ensure that that's protected.
Justin Brannan
4:49:38
The controller mentioned that he didn't think that bit bonds would comply with directive 10.
Preston Niblack
4:49:45
He's he's better positioned to know that than I am.
4:49:47
So
Justin Brannan
4:49:48
Okay.
4:49:48
We I mean, we believe that crypto and bitcoins and all this nonsense is the asset class is just infamous for chaos and uncertainty and, you know, volatility.
4:50:02
We, we don't believe that the city should be, have anything to do with coin or crypto.
Preston Niblack
4:50:07
I watched earlier and I registered your opinion on that.
Justin Brannan
4:50:11
Okay.
4:50:11
We have questions now from Councilmember Williams followed by Brewer.