Alex Rud
Thanks to a mistake by the New York City Finance Department, the owners of this Queens parking lot, at 144-02 95th Ave. in Jamaica — which is used by the borough’s tax assessors — have been receiving a school tax break for homeowners.
These tax snafus were truly close to home.
Bumbling city Finance Department watchdogs have for years been erroneously giving more than $ 2,000 in tax breaks to the owners of an office building and three parking lots — including one rented by the department itself.
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The state School Tax Relief Program is supposed to give only homeowners up to a $ 300 tax rebate on their primary residence each year.
But the Finance Department messed up and has been giving the sweeteners to owners of three parking lots in Queens and Brooklyn, and an office building on the East Side of Manhattan, records show.
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Incredibly, one of the Queens parking lots — at 144-02 95th Ave. in Jamaica — is being used by the borough’s team of tax assessors.
“This is going on right under our noses,” one assessor fumed.
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The city said the error was the bureaucratic equivalent of a typo — but the mistake has gone unnoticed since 2004. And the Brooklyn parking lot, at 1179 E. 96th St., has gotten the so-called STAR exemption since 1999.
It’s hard to know why the errors have not been caught. In 2004, after a bribery scandal involving tax assessors, the city brought in a new group of number crunchers to weed out people who falsely claim to be eligible for the STAR exemption.
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But no one from that oversight group spotted the parking lots or office building — which are excluded from the tax credit program.
“At a minimum, you could check to see if the property is a type that’s qualified to get the exemption,” said George Sweeting with the Independent Budget Office. After questioning by the Daily News, the city said it would seek back taxes from the commercial property owners. And two homeowners in Queens who lost out in similar errors will get refunds.
But the refund can only be applied to the past four years of missed exemptions.
“It’s outrageous. I called them a few years ago to point out the mistake, but nothing ever happened,” recalled Jimmy Roberson, who has never gotten the STAR exemption on his home in Jamaica, which has been eligible since 2004.
The city stressed there’s not a systemic problem and the issues would all be caught and fixed.
“Finance has instituted rigorous controls to ensure that applicants submit documentation demonstrating that they are entitled to benefits, resulting in a savings of as much as $ 72.8 million in the last two years,” said department spokesman Owen Stone.
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