New York City To Appeal Judge’s Order Barring Pied-à-Terre Torment

New York City is proceeding with its pied-à-terre tax as it pursues an appeal of a judge’s late Monday order barring the city from implementation, a move the attorney suing over the surcharge decried Tuesday as a “a thinly-veiled attempt to circumvent” the court and “undermine its authority.”The case will now go to the state court’s Appellate Division after the city filed a notice that it would seek to prevent enactment of a temporary restraining order granted by New York Supreme Court Justice Wayne M. Ozzi. The order directed the city to take down a property roll that identifies every homeowner in New York and prohibited local authorities from enforcing surcharge notices sent to 17,000 recipients, pieces of the pied-à-terre tax rollout that the three New Yorkers now suing the city say caused them irreparable harm.In a document filed late Monday after Judge Ozzi’s order came down, the city’s attorney informed the court of its intent to appeal the order, a move the city claims also blocks the order taking effect.The attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the aggrieved homeowners, Randy Mastro, attacked that assertion in a letter to the court Tuesday, saying the appeal was “designed to cause delay and drag out” the proceedings.“The City’s conduct appears intended to render this Court’s TRO order meaningless, while claiming at the same time, erroneously, that that affirmation automatically stays the Court’s TRO order,” he wrote.Contrary to the city’s claims, its agencies will be in contempt of court if they move forward with the surcharge as the case proceeds, Mr. Mastro continued.In the weeks since the first notices were issued on July 23, complaints streamed into city councilmembers’ offices, social media, and news outlets about family homes wrongly tagged as secondary residences and technical difficulties blocking homeowners from applying for exemptions.“We disagree with today’s ruling, but we are confident in both the pied-à-terre surcharge and the City’s ability to implement it fairly and effectively,” City Hall spokesman Matt Rauschenbach said in a statement before attorneys for the city filed their appeal of the restraining order.Representatives for City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.Governor Kathy Hochul affirmed that the city would take another stab at the rollout but said state law allowing the surcharge “remains intact.” “Take another approach. Get it done in the way that’s required. But the law is intact, so it’s going to continue,” she said, telling reporters Monday that an improved rollout is “entirely doable.”Calling the revenues to be raised by the pied-à-terre tax insignificant compared to the tax revenue that New York is losing from people “fleeing the City, never to return,” President Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday to say he is looking for a legal pathway to end the tax. “This dangerous political ‘experiment’ in New York will destroy what was once a great City and State. It is pure Amateur Hour, and it’s hard, as President of the United States of America, to sit back and watch it happen, especially to a place I once loved,” he wrote, adding: “Financial, and then Social, RUIN, is a 100% certainty.”Judge Ozzi has scheduled oral arguments on the merits of the complaints for August 31 in his Staten Island courtroom, where the homeowners and their Mr. Mastro, will face off with City Hall.

New York City To Appeal Judge’s Order Barring Pied-à-Terre Torment

New York City To Appeal Judge’s Order Barring Pied-à-Terre Torment

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