Court Sides With City, Allowing Mamdani’s Pied-à-Terre Tax To Advance

New York City may continue implementing its controversial surcharge on second homes for the next two weeks, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, officially pausing a restraining order that barred Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration from continuing its contentious rollout of the pied-à-terre tax.The case now returns to New York State Supreme Court, where Justice Wayne M. Ozzi will hear further arguments on the restraining order on August 31. In the meantime, New York homeowners and the Department of Finance must continue slogging through thousands of exemption applications that have poured into City Hall since the end of July.The homeowners suing the city for its messy introduction of the additional property tax — which included letters issued to 17,000 New Yorkers demanding they prove their residency or face fees starting at $40,000 — called the city’s refusal to acknowledge its mistakes “a shame” in a statement Thursday.“Instead, the administration is doubling down, going to court to ensure that it can continue harassing and threatening New York City homeowners who clearly are permanent residents — something the City would know if it would only do its homework,” they said.Homeowners interviewed by The New York Sun have denounced the city’s decision to issue them surcharge notices despite easily verifiable records of their presence in the city — including voting and drivers license registration. “It is, quite frankly, outrageous that this Mayor is so desperate to further his agenda that he’s continuing to try to enforce thousands of surcharge ‘notices’ that are blatantly illegal,” the statement continued.The homeowners at the center of the lawsuit include Rachel O’Brien and Carmine Morano, the wife and father of a Staten Island City Council member, Frank Morano. While they did not receive surcharge notices, their names and addresses were included on a supplemental property roll the city posted of more than 900,000 New York homes which the city initially labeled as “related to” the tax. The move “set off a panic among New Yorkers” and invited “unwanted public scrutiny,” according to the plaintiffs. A third plaintiff, Manhattan-dweller Simon Hedley, is one of thousands who say they received a surcharge notice at an easily verifiable home address.The three are represented by a frequent Mamdani administration critic, Randy Mastro, who previously served as first deputy mayor under Eric Adams.“We remain confident that when we are back in court in a mere 18 days, the thousands of New York City homeowners who are now illegally burdened with the responsibility of proving they do indeed live in their own homes will finally get the permanent relief they deserve,” the plaintiffs said in their statement.At a press conference Thursday morning, the mayor reaffirmed his confidence in the pied-à-terre tax and reassured reporters that he did not time his scheduled departure for an upstate vacation next week to avoid appearing at an oversight hearing requested by Councilmember Morano.That hearing will take place on August 18, with a rally in opposition to the surcharge implementation outside City Hall scheduled for noon.

Court Sides With City, Allowing Mamdani’s Pied-à-Terre Tax To Advance

Court Sides With City, Allowing Mamdani’s Pied-à-Terre Tax To Advance

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